mnartists.org: Dona Schwartz

From "in the Kitchen" series

Dona Schwartz — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:11:30 GMT

Flier for "On the Nest" series participation

Dona Schwartz — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:22:23 GMT

Call for photography subjects and first-time expectant parents: this photo-documentary project explores the adult transition to parenthood. This flier provides contact info and project details for those expecting parents who would like to participate.

"Inspection" from In the Kitchen

Dona Schwartz — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:52:12 GMT

The kitchen is the hub of my family's life. It's the place where we seek physical and emotional sustenance. It's the place where we congregate to touch base, negotiate, and strategize. It's the place where we welcome in close friends and recent acquaintances, introducing them to our daily rituals. It's the place where we make a mess of things and do our best to clean it all up. We pass on ideals, skills, and traditions in the kitchen. I began regularly photographing my kitchen in the fall of 2002. In this singular space I've discovered a range of activities, interactions, and emotions that provide me with a wellspring for reflecting on the meanings of family, interconnection and individuation. Seen over an extended period of time, the kitchen offers a view of life's continuities and changes. Carefully viewed, it can render events that transfer behaviors and values from one generation to the next; it provides a microcosmic glimpse of the dynamics of family. When I sold my house in August 2003 it moved the project in a new direction. My children and I now inhabit a new kitchen, and we've expanded from a single-parent family comprised by me, my sons, Daniel, who is now 23, and Eric, 18, and my daughter, Lara, 12, to a two-parent, blended family of eight, including my partner Ken, and his three children, Justin, 23, Hillary, 19, and Chelsea, 16. Since the move I have photographed the complicated process of merging two distinct families. During this time we have negotiated dinner menus and holiday rituals, we have celebrated our union as a family, and we have mourned the death of my mother. In the new kitchen alliances and tensions emerge and disappear, new routines get established, old and new friends arrive and depart. Despite many changes, this remains constant: the kitchen is still the hub of my family's life. Within the limits of its well-defined domain I explore the unbounded complexity of family.

"Jason and Kevin, 7 days" from On the Nest

Dona Schwartz — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:08:53 GMT

I can think of few experiences that changed my life as profoundly as my first child's birth. With my newborn's arrival, my identity, social status, and self-concept forever changed. During the months leading up to his birth, I busily feathered my nest. In that process, my ideals, my hopes, and my naïve assumptions were invested in and revealed by the material objects I assembled for him: the used crib I lovingly refinished, the bedding I sewed, the toys I bought, and the books I shelved. Through portraits situated in the spaces prepared for children, [i]On the Nest[/i] explores this transitional moment and seeks to discover the range of approaches expectant parents bring to the act of nurturing a new generation. I am equally interested in the transition to life without children as I draw closer to presiding over an empty nest. I am curious about how parents experience this new life stage--whether the empty nest is greeted with relief, sadness, joy, or anxiety. What becomes of the spaces once occupied by children--are children's rooms preserved as a shrine or reclaimed for new uses? Do totems of their childhood remain or has their presence vanished without leaving a trace? These spaces, too, offer clues about life experience, our sense of the past, and expectations for the future. Through this portrait series I am exploring moments of profound change, and in doing so, I hope to gain a nuanced understanding of what it means to create a new life.

"Heidi and Erik, 30 days" from On the Nest

Dona Schwartz — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:05:58 GMT

"Vicki and Klaus, 21 days" from On the Nest

Dona Schwartz — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:37:31 GMT

"Alejandra and Mark, 12 days" from On the Nest

Dona Schwartz — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:21:06 GMT

"Kristin and Ryan, 18 days" from On the Nest

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:39:55 GMT

"Desiree and Karen, 68 days" from On the Nest

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:38:28 GMT

"Very Clean, Nice Staff" from Sanctioned Sex

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:30:17 GMT

Much is exposed but little is revealed. Contradictions abound in strip clubs. At once public and intimate, they invite ogling while they fend off scrutiny. Prurient and pecuniary interests collide in this arena where titillation and arousal are bought and sold. Beneath the gaudy surface, invisible to the self-interested observer, more subtle dynamics are in play. The strip club is a stage upon which fantasies are enacted. Desire comes in different shapes and sizes; customers shop for a good fit at the right price. My work renders the narratives written in gestures, expressions, and interactions. I am both drawn in and repelled. My presence here produces tension--clothed women subvert the illusion. I know I am unwelcome. I am yet another contradiction in this space where customers seek intimacy, a commodity proffered by young women who seek a living wage.

"No Hassle Girls" from Sanctioned Sex

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:24:50 GMT

"Everybody Likes a Happy Girl" from Sanctioned Sex

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:21:44 GMT

"Beautiful Women, Smell Their Scent" from Sanctioned Sex

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:18:22 GMT

"The Smell of Chicken" from Sanctioned Sex

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:15:49 GMT

"No Pets on Fields" from Soccer Mom

Dona Schwartz — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:11:46 GMT

I am a reluctant soccer mom. After fifteen years and three children I still know very little about the sport. Nevertheless, each summer I bring my folding canvas chair (equipped with arm rests and cup holder), park myself on the sidelines, and cheer for the team. I do my best to pay attention and to support my youngest child's efforts. But more often than not my mind wanders. As the game unfolds on the field I'm drawn to the parenting rituals in play on the sidelines. My errant gaze takes in a succession of vignettes: Mothers cradling babies. "What's the score?" Corralling toddlers. "Kick the ball!" Keeping track of the water bottle. "Good play!" Reading magazines. "The ref must be blind!" Making phone calls. "Take the shot!" Taking pictures. "Good game." Taken together these scenes construct a diorama of my parental history. We come with blankets, coolers and infants in tow, chairs slung across our backs. We arrive straight from the office and from the trenches on the home front. Why do we do it? What draws us back season after season, year after year, child after child? Fresh air and sunshine. Good exercise for the kids. An opportunity to catch up on gossip and reinvigorate dormant friendships. Advance preparation for the varsity team. We tell ourselves that sport teaches kids cooperation, drives their competitive instincts, and helps them to learn self-sacrifice ("there is no 'I' in team"). We surrender our afternoons and evenings to soccer, softball, lacrosse and hockey, and find time to sandwich in dance classes, music lessons and something for dinner. Schedules memorized, we scurry from one activity to the next. We do it for the kids. It's our duty. So this summer, as in summers past, I park my car amongst the minivans and SUVs, grab my gear, and stride through the gate in the chain link fence encircling our good intentions. I join my team, the community of responsible middle class parents, who strive to do right by their kids, to coach them well, and teach them the rules of the game. Dona Schwartz Summer 2006