Dan O'Connor
Dan O’Connor is a graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he received his MFA in Photography. He is an interdisciplinary artist who uses sculpture, performance, and found objects to create environmental narratives, that are ultimately represented in photographs. He has exhibited his photography at M.I.T, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Massachusetts, Mass MoCA in the USA, the Burren College of Art in Ireland and the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art and Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic.
In a time where we are inundated with “green” ideas and messages, it can be challenging to keep people’s interest in the environment. I strive to create sculptures and performances, in natural spaces that ultimately create engaging photographs. In these images, I combine narrative elements with my acute interest in human ecology. The photographs are created in the woods, where I alter the existing surroundings to create contrasts and tensions or sometimes synergy between nature and my human impact. Whether it is creating a woven stick wall or performing acts strictly for the camera, all are created to make the viewer consider their place between nature and civilization.