
Because suburbia occupies a dominant presence in so many lives—a place of not only residence but also of work, commerce, worship, education, and leisure—it has become a focal point for competing interests and viewpoints. The suburbs have always been a fertile space for imagining both the best and the worst of modern social life. more
Drawn Here: Sean Griffiths of FAT
Target Free Thursday Nights
Thursday, March 6 7:00 pm
Escape to the Suburbs!
Free First Saturday
Saturday, April 5 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Next Exit: The Shifting Landscape of Suburbia
Target Free Thursday Nights
Thursday, April 24 7:00 pm

All essays are originally from the companion book for this exhibition, Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes. Some essays appear in excerpted form where noted.

American, b. 1969, Bloomfield, Iowa; lives and works in Minneapolis and New York
Angela Strassheim’s photographic subject matter encompasses both life and death—its reality, finality, and promises. Her series Left Behind, which refers to the “unsaved” souls after the Rapture, draws upon the mythology of American domestic life with arresting color photographs that include members of her Apostolic Christian family. The artist’s images display an intimacy that is at once disarming and transgressive, drawing you into a familiar yet unsettling world. The banal surroundings often depicted in her work belie a strong compositional eye that invites further inspection and speculation. Drawing upon her experience as a forensic photographer, Strassheim’s scenes offer a unique vision of unusual sharpness and attention to detail, while capturing an atmosphere in which religious faith, suburban lifestyles, and personal memories converge. Her work was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial and has been shown at the Marvelli Gallery, New York; Musée de L’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts; Falcouner Gallery at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa; the Des Moines Art Center; and the Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis.
We asked people to make a video telling us about the suburbs and put it on YouTube. Selected videos are showing in the gallery at the Walker Art Center during the run of the exhibition.
Do you live in a suburb? Do you work or go to school in one? What is your experience of the “burbs? ”…
Whether you love them or hate them we’re interested in your thoughts on the phenomenon of the American suburb. We invite you to make a 5-minute video about strip malls, cul-de-sacs, office parks, and green lawns or whatever suburbia means to you. A select number of videos will be chosen to screen as part of the exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes in the Target Gallery from February 15 to May 18, 2008.
To participate, upload your video to YouTube and add the tag “walkerworldsaway” or post it as a response to our video above. We’ll feature all videos on the Walker’s YouTube page. To be considered for gallery screening, entries must be 5 minutes or less and be online by January 18, 2008.