Jeanine Michna-Bales: Through Darkness to Light

JEANINE MICHNA-BALES

Through Dar kness t o Light : Seeking Freedom on the Underground Railroad F e b r u a r y 18 - A p r i l 15 , 2 0 17

COVER IMAGES: Stopover. Frogmore Plantation, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, 2014 © 2017 PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX. All rights reserved.

JEANINE MIC HNA-BALES

Through Dar kness t o Light : Seeking Freedom on t he Underground Railroad F E B R U A R Y 18 - A P R I L 15 , 2 017

JEANINE MICHNA-BALES through darkness to light: seeking freedom on the underground railroad February 18 - April 15, 2017 From a cotton plantation just south of Natchitoches, Louisiana, all the way north to Canada, Jeanine MichnaBales has created a photographic journey of a slave’s long road to freedom, circa 1840.

Under the cover of darkness, an estimated 100,000 slaves traveled north to freedom in the decades prior to the Civil War. They had little knowledge of the trails that lead to their liberty. To find north was to look for moss growing on the north side of trees or by observing the North Star located by the Big Dipper.

Michna-Bales takes you on a dark lit passage through demanding terrains and ominous river crossings in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and finally Ontario, Canada. The threatening rivers crossed included the Mississippi, Tennessee and the Ohio River (The River Jordan).

Michna-Bales decade long project uncovered roughly 1,400 miles, revealing actual sites, cities and places that freedom-seekers passed through. Homes of Abolitionists William Beard, Joshua Eliason Jr., and Reverend Guy Beckley gave refuge, and are included in her photographic essay.

The photographs offer an eerie, visceral journey that immerses you in the night’s grasp. The images illustrate the daunting task of traveling roughly 20 miles each night.

Jeanine Michna-Bales latest projects have been researching and photographing long-forgotten nuclear fallout shelters and invisible epicenters of environmental turmoil from fracking. She recently won the PhotoNola Portfolio Review Prize in 2015, which resulted in a solo exhibition in New Orleans this fall. She was awarded the 2016 Documentarian of the American South Collection Award from the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Her photographs have been published in many publications including Harper’s, Transition, Spot and Geo Histoire.

Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Center for Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Through Darkness to Light is also a traveling exhibition sponsored by Mid-America Arts Alliance through Exhibits USA, exhibiting from 2017 - 2022.

Book: Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad, Published by Princeton Architectural Press. Release date: February 7, 2017. Forward by Andrew. J. Young, and essays by Fergus M. Bordewich, Robert F. Darden, and Eric R. Jackson.

Decision to Leave.

Magnolia Plantation on the Cane River, Louisiana, 2013

Devil’s Backbone.

Lewis County, Tennessee, 2014

Determining True North in the Rain.

Along the southern part of the Old Natchez Trace, Mississippi, 2014

Follow the Drinking Gourd.

Jefferson County, Indiana, 2013

Stopover.

Frogmore Plantation, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, 2014

Hidden Passage.

Mammoth Cave, Barren County, Kentucky, 2014

Look for the Gray Barn Out Back.

Joshua Eliason Jr. barnyards and farmhouse, with a tunnel leading under- neath the road to another station, Centerville, Indiana, 2013

Keep Going.

Crossing the Tennessee River, Colbert County, Alabama, 2014

Within Reach.

Crossing the St. Clair River to Canada just south of Port Huron, Michigan, 2014

JEANINE MICHNA-BALES b. 1971, American

Solo Exhibitions 2017 Through Darkness to Light; Jefferson School African American History Center; Charlottesville, VA; Mar. 22nd - Jun. 15th

Through Darkness to Light; Photographs Do Not Bend; Dallas, TX; Feb. 18th - Apr. 15th

Through Darkness to Light; Arnika Dawkins Gallery; Atlanta, GA; Feb. 3rd - Mar. 31st 2016 PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review Prize; New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery; New Orleans, LA; Dec. 10th - Feb. 26th, 2017 2015

Through Darkness to Light; Denison Museum; Granville, OH Traveling Exhibitions 2017 - 2022 Through Darkness to Light; The Underground Railroad: Photographs of a Path to Freedom; Mid-America Arts Alliance

Evanston History Center; Evanston, IL; Jan. 28th - Mar. 16th, 2017

Fort Smith Regional Art Museum; Fort Smith, AR; Apr. 6th - May 25th, 2017

Griot Museum of Black History; St. Louis, MO; Jun. 16th - Aug. 11th, 2017

St. Lawrence University, Richard F. Brush Art Gallery; Canton, NY; Sept. 1st - Oct. 20th, 2017

Museum of History and Art Ontario; Ontario, CA; Nov. 10th, 2017 - Jan. 7th, 2018

Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council; Texarkana, TX; Jan. 28th - Mar. 16th, 2018

Panola College; Carthage, TX; Apr. 6th - May 25th, 2018

Portsmouth Art and Cultural Center; Portsmouth, VA; Jun. 16th - Oct. 20th, 2018

Alexandria Black History Museum; Alexandria, VA; Jan. 28th - Mar. 16th, 2019

West Baton Rouge Museum; Port Allen, LA; Apr. 6th - May 25th, 2019

Delta Cultural Center; Helena, AR; Jun. 16th - Aug. 11th, 2019

Canton Museum of Art; Canton, OH; Sept. 1st - Oct. 20th, 2019

Gorman Discovery Center; Kansas City, MO; Nov. 10th - Jan. 7th, 2020

Upcountry History Museum; Greenville, SC; Jan. 28th - May 25th, 2020

Bell County Museum; Belton, TX; Sept. 1st - Oct. 20th, 2020 Group Exhibitions 2016 Frack-tured; Perspectives; Longview Museum of Fine Arts; Longview, TX

Through Darkness to Light; Moving Walls 23: Journeys; Open Society Foundations; Washington D.C. 2015 Frack-tured; Newspace Now: 2015 Members’ Salon; Newspace Center for Photography; Portland, OR

Through Darkness to Light; Critical Mass Top 50; GuatePhoto International Photography Festival; Antigua, Guatemala

Through Darkness to Light; Moving Walls 23: Journeys; Open Society Foundations; New York, NY

Through Darkness to Light; Southern Exposure: Portraits of a Changing Landscape; Museum of Contemporary Art;

Jacksonville, FL 2014 Fallout; 2014 Atomic STEaM Photography Show; The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History; Albuquerque, NM

Through Darkness to Light; Newspace Now: 2014 Members’ Salon; Newspace Center for Photography; Portland, OR

Through Darkness to Light; The Curve; CENTER Awards Traveling Show; Colorado Photographic Arts Center; Denver, CO

Through Darkness to Light and Fallout; 32nd Annual Juried Membership Exhibition; Juror Malcolm Daniel;

Houston Center for Photography; Houston, TX

Through Darkness to Light; Photowork ‘14; Juror Karen Haas; The Barrett Art Center; Poughkeepsie, NY

Through Darkness to Light; The Curve; CENTER Award Winners Show; Center for Contemporary Arts; Santa Fe, NM

Through Darkness to Light; NOPA Member’s Exhibition; New Orleans Photo Alliance; New Orleans, LA Collections

Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University; Museum of Fine Arts | Houston – gift from Joan Morgenstern;

and Various Private Collections Books 2017 Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad; Trade Publication; Princeton Architectural Press;

Release Date February 2017 2016 THREE PROJECTS: An Overview; Self-Published; Edition One Books; Dec. 2016 Awards 2016 Through Darkness to Light; 2016 Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award: Documentarians of The American South;

Duke University

Frack-tured; Honorable Mention; Perspectives Group Exhibition; Longview Museum of Fine Arts; Longview, TX 2015 2015 PhotoNOLA Review Prize; First Place; New Orleans Photo Alliance; New Orleans, LA

Through Darkness to Light; 2015 Lange-Taylor Prize Semifinalist; Center for Documentary Studies; Duke University 2014 Through Darkness to Light; 2014 CDS/Honickman First Book Prize Finalist; Center for Documentary Studies; Duke University

Fallout; 2nd Place Award; 2014 Atomic STEaM Photography Show; The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Critical Mass Top 50; Photolucida; Portland, OR

Through Darkness to Light; 2014 Lange-Taylor Prize Semifinalist; Center for Documentary Studies; Duke University

Beth Block Juried Membership Honoraria; Juror Malcolm Daniel; Houston Center for Photography

Review Santa Fe Scholarship Recipient; CENTER; (Juried Review)

Through Darkness to Light; CENTER 2014 Choice Award Winner; First Place, Gallerist’s Choice; Juror Steffi Schulze Publications 2017 Virginia Quarterly Review; Through Darkness to Light: Visions of the Underground Railroad; Winter 2017 2016 Harper’s Magazine; New Books and Book Review Section; Volume 332 Number 1992; May 2016

Wordt ver volgd; Amnesty International; Picture of the Month; Volume 49 Issue 03; March 2016 2015 Transition Magazine; Harvard University; Bras-Coupé; Issue 117; 2015 Spot Magazine; Houston Center for Photography;

Spotlight; Spring 2015 2014 Geo Histoire Magazine; La Grande Évasion; December 2014 - January 2015

Press 2016 Lenscratch; Art + Science: Jeanine Michna-Bales; October 8th

NBC4 Washington D.C.; Journey to Freedom: Commemorating Black History Month; March 10th

Blink from Vantage; To Photograph People Not as Victims, But as Agents of Change; February 15th

In Sight by The Washington Post; What It Was Like to Walk in the Shoes of America’s Slaves; February 1st 2015 PDN Photo of the Day; Decisition to Leave from Through Darkness to Light; December 30th

WJCT Radio; American South Gets Portrait Taken in MOCA’s ‘Southern Exposure’ Photography Show; May 18th 2014 Fstoppers; ‘From Darkness to Light’ Documents Journey from Slavery to Freedom Along the Underground Railroad;

December 26th

The Dish; Shining Light On The Underground Railroad; January 19th

Feature Shoot; Riveting Photos Trace the Historic Underground Railroad at Night; September 30th

A Photo Editor; The Best Work I Saw at Review Santa Fe ‘14; September 2nd

Canada AM; Photographing the Underground Railroad; July 16th

Wired Raw File; Haunting Underground Railroad Images Retrace the Steps of Fleeing Slaves; July 10th

Wired Raw File; This is Where Americans Planned to Spend the Nuclear Holocaust; June 4th

Lenscratch; The CENTER Awards: Gallerist’s Choice 1st Place Winner: Jeanine Michna-Bales; May 20th Visiting Artist/Lecture/Talks 2017 Opening and Artist Talk; Arnika Dawkins Gallery; Atlanta, GA; Feb. 3rd and 4th

Opening and Artist Talk; Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery; Dallas, TX; Feb. 18th

Artist Talk; Sheldon Peck Homestead|Lombard Historical Society; Lombard, IL; Feb. 22nd

Artist Talk; Evanston History Center; Evanston, IL; Feb. 23rd

Artist Talk; Evanston Art Center; Evanston, IL; Feb. 23rd

Artist Talk, School Lectures; Virginia Festival of the Book; Mar. 22nd - 25th 2016

Artist Talk; New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery; New Orleans, LA 2015

Press Panel Discussion and Artist Talk; Open Society Foundations; New York, NY

Artist Talk and Visiting Artist Guest Lecturer; Denison Museum and Denison University; Granville, OH 2014

Artist Talk; The Curve Group Exhibition; CENTER Award Winners Traveling Show;

Colorado Photographic Arts Center; Denver, CO

Artist Talk; 32nd Annual Juried Membership Exhibition; Houston Center for Photography; Houston, TX

Artist Talk; Review Santa Fe; CENTER; Santa Fe, NM Reviews and Festivals 2017

Virginia Festival of the Book Selected Author - Through Darkness to Light; Charlottesville, VA; Mar. 22nd - 25th 2016

FotoFest Portfolio Review Participant; Houston, TX

2015 2014

2013

PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review Participant; New Orleans, LA PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review Participant; New Orleans, LA Review Santa Fe 100; CENTER; Santa Fe, NM (Juried Review) FotoFest Portfolio Review Participant; Houston, TX PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review Participant; New Orleans, LA

Professional Affiliations Aperture; Art Photo Index; Blue Sky; CENTER (Review Santa Fe); Colorado Photographic Arts Center; Filter Photo; Houston Center for Photography; Humble Arts Foundation; LensCulture; Lenswork; Los Angeles Center of Photography;

New Orleans Photo Alliance; Newspace Center for Photography;

Photo Center NW; Texas Photographic Society; The Center for Fine Art

Photography; The Center for Photography at Woodstock Education and Workshops 2016 Presenting Data and Information; Edward Tufte; Dallas, TX 2015 Finding Your Audience: Marketing Master Class; Mary Virginia Swanson; Tucson, AZ 2014 Adobe Photoshop Workshop; Charles Cramer; Dallas, TX 2013 Adobe Lightroom Workshop; Michael Frye; Dallas, TX Lenswork Road Show; Brooks Jensen; Lenswork Publishing, Dallas, TX 2012 Canon EOS Immersion Seminar; Houston, TX 2002-2004 Continuing Education Photography Classes; Dianne Jones; San Francisco Art Institute; San Francisco, CA 2003 Continuing Education Photography Class; Todd Hido; California College of the Arts; Oakland, CA 2002 Documentary Photography Workshop; Darcy Padilla; San Francisco, CA 2001 Photography Classes; Master’s Level; Art Institute; San Francisco, CA 1995-1996 Art Direction Student; Portfolio Center; Atlanta, GA; Miami Ad School; Miami Beach, FL 1994 High Honors; Bachelor of Science in Advertising; Minor in Art; University of Florida Work 2012 - present 2004 - 2014

1996 - 2004

Contemporary Photographer; Dallas, TX Freelance Art Direction; Design and Production; Ad agencies and Magazines; Dallas, TX Advertising Art Director; Ad Agencies; Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; Dallas, TX

154 Glass Street, Ste. 104 Dallas, TX 75207 tel: 214.969.1852 fax: 214.745.9901 email: info@pdnbgallery.com www.pdnbgallery.com