Colleen Plumb
Currently residing in Chicago, Illinois

Website: www.colleenplumb.com

Work statement
My photographs examine the increasing disconnection that exists between humans and the natural world. My work explores simulation, consumption, destruction, and reconstruction. It addresses the essence of our connection, as well as our fragmentation from the natural. The series looks at points of intersection with wild in the human-made world -- our coexistence -- and explores notions of endurance and the reality of loss.

For over ten years my work has examined how and where the natural world -- in real or artificial form -- appears in an urban environment. Growing up in Chicago gave me an urban childhood: running through gangways and exploring alleys with my friends. Something more and more kids today don't experience. Early on, seeds for my interest in nature were planted through lots of outside play, camping trips, and odd pets (our duck named Sir Francis Drake, for example). I am sure these beginnings influence and inspire my work.

I began this project looking at 'fake nature', wondering what substitutions for nature can satisfy in people. Looking deeper I began photographing live/real animals and how they can be a link for us to a world far from the reality and pace of contemporary life, as well as provide an intangible link to a deeper world of instinct and rawness. With this series I hope to incite contemplation about the lives of animals and and generate a dialog about resource usage.

Bio
Born in 1970, Colleen Plumb grew up on the north side of Chicago and went to school at the University of Illinois in Urbana; graduating in 1992 with a BFA from Northern Illinois University in Visual Communication. In 1999 Plumb received an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago where she is currently an adjunct faculty member. Before earning her MFA, Plumb had a job at a design firm and one day, while driving home, she saw some amazing light on the side of a brick building in Chicago and decided to follow her heart and start making pictures. Plumb lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters and, of course, Jack the dog, and exhibits her photographs nationally.