Artist Spotlight

Nan Brown

Brown studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1970s. She taught herself Ansel Adams' Zone System and was influenced by his philosophy of craft. Brown was self instructed. In 1975, she pursued a career in studio photography. On her site, she features to collections of work: Trailers and Intimitations. Her Intimitations are quirky photographs of children [x]. Her Trailers Collection is just that... trailers [x]. However, there's more to her collection of photographing trailers than what it sounds. I believe that's why I chose her as a photographer to spotlight - I found her images of trailers intriguing and beautiful. In reference to her trailers collection, she stated:

"I have long loved trailers as objects. They are often alone in a landscape, ironic metal comments. From the side they are billboard-like and wonderfully two-dimensional. Their facades are of subtly beautiful tones and textures, a black and white photographer’s dream. The squares and rectangles of windows within the squares and rectangles of trailers, I trapped within the square camera format. The repetition of form causes people to look closely at each trailer for variation. Portrait-like, individual personalities are revealed. The spark for the series included not only their visual charm but also the emotional impact of trailers as shelter. As a child, traveling across California, I was drawn, through my car window, to the otherness of the small, roadside communities or the dislocation of lone trailers. Their fascination for me now includes the seeming license expressed in the treatment of the exteriors and yards, a result, I think, of the diminutive and transient nature of trailers. The images refer obliquely to culture. But trailers are so versatile and useful that the quality of that culture cannot easily be corralled, certainly not within a silly stereotype like “trailer trash” or even a category like poverty. Yes, they offer ubiquitous, inexpensive shelter, but they also serve those seeking simplicity, “freedom”, or a get-away, and even those just needing storage. For the most part a mobile home is just that, a home. I have become deeply attached to the images as I have collected them. They are stand-ins for the gamut of spiritual states from valor to depression to depravity, conditions not the province of any given social class or group."