TANIA
NELSON
I use Mixed-Media Collage and Street Photography to present commentary and questions about issues of personal identity, consumer culture, politics, historical narratives and so many other current points of division and unity.
Both of my mediums carry the influence of contemporary American artists, from American Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art; and photographers from the WPA documentary projects to current Street Photographers on Instagram.
My interest in photography goes back to my mom’s 110 camera on a field trip in the 4th grade. My eye is much the same as it was then - looking for people doing their daily routines and strong structural lines in the human-made landscape.
Along with my love of snapshots, I had a habit of snipping and tearing images from magazines as a young adult. In my high school library I would spend study hall tearing out interesting pictures from the school’s throw-away magazines, then carefully arrange them on my bedroom wall and in cheap, wide-ruled notebooks.
I was born and raised in Wausau, Wisconsin. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay in 1999 where I studied in the interdisciplinary Social Change and Development program, with an emphasis in American Social Issues. I am self-taught in the world of art and took it up as a profession after a nearly 20 year career in the banking industry.