ARTIST STATEMENT
My interest in the Minnesota Iron Range reflects my curiosity in the impact of industrialization upon people, culture and the environment. I lived on the Iron Range for a short period of time and currently own a small cabin there . There is a feeling of collision between past and present on “the Range”: a tension between the way it was during the mining era and the way it exists today. Surrounded with history, the landscape suggests metaphors for the space and the people living there. I am fascinated with artifacts and their relationship to humanity. Intrigued with making connections, I enjoy the cultural codes they create.
The Range covers an area 120 miles long and three miles wide that became one of the world’s largest iron ore mining sites beginning in 1884. By 1910 there were 43 nationality groups who immigrated to Minnesota for work there. The decline of the domestic steel and iron industry in the 1980’s resulted in the area becoming economically depressed. As a result, waste dumps are now artificial hills and many open pit mines have filled with water. Currently, there is controversy between the expansion of the industry to create jobs and the preservation of the environment.
My ongoing project, primarily consists of photographic digital composites that include several independent series using different aesthetic motifs. The techniques range from lyrical and poetic to abstract often referencing the formal and historical.
My most recent series consist of portraits whose families have lived and worked on the Minnesota Iron Range for generations. Each portrait was inspired by their personal story and how it relates to the mining environment and its ethnically diverse beginnings. The subjects return the gaze of the viewer suggesting that the reviewer might understand their story and this historical industry. Their stories have also been documented in either text format or video interviews.
Nancy Stalnaker Bundy is a fiscal year 2018 recipient of an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota state legislature; and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
