Our national identity is shaped by warfare. We build myths, histories and fantasies around it. Our national identity is shaped by warfare. We build myths, histories and fantasies around war. We celebrate it; we mourn it, and we try to comprehend it. Often American civilians look at photographs of wars fought overseas to better understand conflict, to see in the still imagery the gritty reality of violence. Sometimes, however, photography fails to provide us with a clear vision of war. Instead, it reminds us of the distance between safety and conflict. Despite the medium’s shortcomings, it is still important to look at war.

In my photographic series Battlegrounds, I depict the iconography of war. I also consider how my own understanding of war (as an American civilian) is mediated through images. Thus, I re-photograph preexisting pictures of battlegrounds in order to show how the material elements of a photograph influence my perception. The war I see is empty, dislocated, and hazy. These images offer a fragile vision of human experience and damaged landscape.

http://www.hannahsmithallen.com/

EDUCATION

2007 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, MFA Photography, Video & Related Media
1999 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI, BFA, Photography

HONORS & GRANTS

2012 A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship, Brooklyn, NY
2011 A.I.M Residency, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2010 NYFA Artist Fellowship in Photography, New York, NY
2007 Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, Aaron Siskind Foundation, New York, NY
2007 Chairman’s Honors, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2012 Barristers Gallery, New Orleans, LA “Postcards from L.I.”
2011 Bronx Museum of Art & Wave Hill Cultural Center, Bronx, NY “Bronx Calling”
2011 Kunsthalle Galapagos, Brooklyn, NY “Gimme Shelter”
2010 University Art Gallery, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY “Faculty Exhibition”
2010 Print Center, Philadelphia, PA, “Photography Annual”
2008 University Art Gallery, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY “Faculty Exhibition”
2008 Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA “Solid Gold”
2008 Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, “Annual”
2007 Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY “Newly Released”
2006 Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA, “Exposure”
2006 Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle WA, “Resonance”
2006 9th Street Studios, Brooklyn, NY, “Collective #9”
2005 Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA, “Photo National”

PUBLICATIONS

2011 Bronx Calling, Catalogue, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2006 "In The Loupe", Photography Magazine, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
2005 Photo National, Catalogue, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA