b. 1969, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Since returning to Minneapolis in 1992 after graduation from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, Alec Soth has been laboring mightily in the art photography trenches. In addition to working as a digital imaging specialist at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Soth has produced two photographic series, including The Middle Night (1993) and At the Bar (1995-96). In 1999, supported by a McKnight Photography Fellowship, he took a photographic road trip, creating large, super-saturated color portrait and landscape photographs for From Here to There. Soth has begun teaching at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and plans to use a recently-awarded MCAD/Jerome Foundation Fellowship to support a photographic trip down the Mississippi River.
The invitation to participate in Vantage Points: Campus as Place prompted Soth to reminisce about his own student years. “I remember the excitement, the feeling of possibility. To tell the truth, I miss that feeling.” In experimenting with how to photograph Carleton College, he was struck initially by the quality of open space. “You could feel the farmland encircling the campus.” After shooting trial pictures, the photographer chose the window as a device for articulating the relationships between inside and outside, and between constructed and natural environments.
Alec Soth: Photographs | Artist's Statement