My creative practice includes interdisciplinary forms of storytelling – visual (drawing), written (printed catalogs), and oral (film) – to reflect the tightly woven social and systemic fabrics that bind us, both presently and throughout history. The research methodologies in which I engage for my respective creative projects can be divided into two categories: those that occur in historical institutions and those that engage with oral storytelling traditions. Working with local institutions like the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Atlanta History Center, I mine archives in search of documents and artifacts that are emblematic of particular periods, including those related to décor, architectural design, and consumer culture. Additionally, through directed forms of community engagement, I gather oral histories that shed light on unique regional economies, social structures, and political leanings. This research is then compiled into a series of multi-disciplinary creative works that offer the viewer various opportunities for engagement.

Using a collage-like methodology, I combine the imagery discovered within the archives with invented imagery inspired by oral histories to create an object that is as much tapestry as it is drawing. I create complex surfaces that layer disparate visual references on translucent materials to allow for the presentation of multiple narratives on a single surface. Hand-cut patterns tuck and fold, obstructing the narrative vignettes underneath to reveal stories buried within informal forms of documentation that are often omitted from popular histories, like those found in domestic spaces. Additionally, a series of short films combining audio recordings of oral histories shared by community members and moving images of regionally specific ecosystems provide deeper insight into the daily challenges confronting these communities through the tradition of storytelling.

My creative projects engage with scholars across disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and the environmental sciences, in order to expand contemporary research beyond the academic community and make it accessible to the public. Art is its own form of knowing, observing, imagining, documenting, and communicating. Sharing this creative research both in conventional art venues – galleries, institutions, etc. – as well as public spaces increases the resonance and impact of our collective history on contemporary culture.

BIO

Straddling drawing and social practice, Laura Tanner's works act as archives of regional foodways, shedding light on how recipes and traditions surrounding the gathering table reflect collective identity. Through collaborations with historical institutions and local communities, Tanner's work reveals challenges confronting communities across America and exposes the extraordinary disparity between perceived and experienced narratives as told by those who are enduring them. Tanner has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Springfield Art Museum, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Susquehanna Art Museum. Her research has been supported through numerous fellowships and residencies, including A Studio in the Woods at Tulane University, the Ucross Foundation, and the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. In 2023, select drawings from Tanner's ongoing project, Dish, were selected for publication in the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a two-part congressionally mandated report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program with a mission to assess the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States. Tanner currently lives in Boca Raton, FL. Her work can be viewed at the Ferrara Showman Gallery in New Orleans or in the collection of the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina.