Author(s): Erinn Springer

PHOTOGRAPHY MONOGRAPHS

Erinn Springer grew up in rural Wisconsin outside of a village of 1,000 people, where her family has lived for ten generations. She left with no expectation of calling the state home again, but after the loss of a close family member coincided with the turbulence of American politics, she returned in 2020 to document and discover what remained of her memories in the midwest.

She spent afternoons at her uncle’s farm, Sunday mornings chatting with folks at church, and many days alone on the road–knocking on unknown doors–hoping to reach a new understanding of regional and personal history through the subjects she photographed.  The resulting series is an exploration of isolation and connection.

Created with family and strangers, the series depicts contrasts in the modern midwest, where everyday occurrences get caught between past and present. Through fleeting moments and remembrance, her photographs reflect upon interior and exterior landscapes in a region that is mysterious yet familiar.

A portrait of agrarian life, Dormant Season is a tender document of the intergenerational bonds of rural America: a mental space and physical place at the heart of an old dream and at the edge of a transformation.