Artist Statement
New American Landscapes
Dedicated to the Memory of Forest Defenders Juan Silva and his son Juan Silva
There is no place on earth that has not been irrevocably altered or polluted by human activity. My profound connection to nature and our impact on the environment has been an overriding subject in my work throughout my years as an artist. I use my Maine farm and the photographs I have taken over 40 years to show the changes to the land around me. I do this by creating theaters and dramas. By tearing, twisting, and drawing, I construct my photographs as I explore issues of climate grief, consumption, devastation, and our fundamental alienation from the natural world. The act of crushing and tearing well-made photographs is a personal, performative, existential act and the resulting final arrangement evokes images of nature subjugated by human exploitation and allows me to find comfort and beauty in what remains.
Artist Bio
Trained as a painter, Suzanne studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts,Tufts University, and completed her MFA at Maine Media Workshops and College. She was a two-time winner of fellowships awarded by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. After receiving the first of these awards, she spent eighteen months on the road traveling alone, overland, through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Far East. In the 1980’s and 90’s she made extended trips to Central and South America to catalog birds in the Amazon basin and Central America.
Suzanne has had many solo exhibitions and has been included in group shows over her long career, some of which are listed here: Yale University, New Haven, CT; Cove Street Arts, Portland, ME; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI; Art Institute of Boston; Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, MA; The French Embassy, NY, NY; and Colby College, Waterville, ME.
Suzanne lives in Maine with her two dogs and a large flock of chickens.