Artist

Megan Duda

Nationality

American

Untitled

Preview

Date of Work

2023

Medium

Giclee print on Hahnemuhle

Status

Stored

Artist Bio

Fine art photographer Meghan Duda creates atmospheric recordings of space and time with a collection of handmade pinhole cameras and camera-less printing technologies. After earning her bachelor degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech in 2005 she began traveling the country, developing a practice photographing vernacular architecture. In 2007 she moved to Fargo, ND where her photographic focus shifted to experimental landscape photography. In 2012 she earned her Master of Fine Arts at the University of North Dakota and is currently Assistant Professor of Photography and Design at North Dakota State University. Duda’s work is held in public and private collections in North Dakota, Minnesota, Ohio, and New York. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with major exhibitions in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and New York. Her work has been featured in the online publications Don’t Take Pictures, Fracture Magazine, Ain’t Bad, and Lenscratch. She was also published in three award winning publications of Manifest Gallery of Cincinnati - International Photography Annual 1, International Photography Annual 5, and Manifest’s Exhibition Annual for season 10.

Additional Information

Commemorative digital print created for 'home.', a UND MFA alumni exhibition that took place in January and February of 2024 at the University of North Dakota Memorial Union Gallery. Leaves in black and white.

Artist Statement:

Home can have many meanings, and as someone who spent their formative years between two disparate places, describing where I am from has always been complicated. At this point in my life, I have lived in the midwest longer than anywhere else. Does this mean that the midwest is now my home?

This is likely why much of my artistic practice has been a reflection on space and time. I often begin projects as a way to better understand places - my camera a reason to explore, the creative process a means to learn, and the images a language to describe my discoveries. The two bodies of work presented here represent my explorations of this midwest experience.

One Mississippi [001] and Two Mississippi [010] document a travel along the Mississippi River with the Trailer Obscura, a 5 ft x 8 ft enclosed trailer I transformed into a mobile pinhole camera. With this tool I travel the landscape making long exposures while driving. The project begins in the river delta at Pot Sulfur, Louisiana in 2015, and ends at the headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota in 2018. In many ways, the Mississippi is a line connecting these places I consider home, the coastal south and the northern midwest.

The Trailer Obscura was constructed during my time in the graduate program at UND, encouraged and supported by the late Joel Jonientz and retired professor Patrick Luber. Although originally intended as a teaching tool, which I still use in this capacity, the Trailer Obscura also opened up a world of conceptual possibilities for my creative practice, and is one of the enduring artifacts of my time at UND.

Condition

Excellent

Rights

Images are provided for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced for commercial use. Images may be protected by artist copyright. A credit line is required to be used for any public non-commercial educational purpose. The credit line must include, “Image courtesy of the University of North Dakota.”