Laura Minor

Artist Statement

In my work I explore topics such as roles and expectations of women in society and environmental issues. I use a wide range of media, including photography, cyanotype, painting and fiber to create. It may be the art teacher showing, having to know and use so many different processes.

In my series Celestial Beings, I look at the expectations and roles of women. When I became a mother finding time to think let alone make art became hard to come by. I was the center of a child’s universe. I also was teaching and fulling filling domestic duties. The ever-higher expectations of society were crushing.

In this series I source archival images from the turn of the 20th century. These women had far few choices in their daily lives. They were daughters, then wives, then mothers. The photos always have a very formal feel to them as it was a special occasion to photographed then. They almost never look happy. Their path was predetermined in life, but still they quietly persisted mostly in the shadow of others. I combine the women with NASA planetary images.

I use an old photographic process to bring them to life. Cyanotypes were invented in 1842 and were utilized by Anna Atkins, one of the first female photographers to record botanical samples. In Many ways Atkins challenged conventions during her lifetime. It is in that spirit that create my work.