The photographs in this exhibition are part of a project about rural life in the Hudson Valley. For the past five years, I have been taking photographs of individuals and families in upstate New York. Having spent many years as a weekender and homeowner, most of the people I knew were other New Yorkers, and I never had the chance to meet people who grew up in this rural area. During the pandemic, I spent many hours outside with my camera, walking along the road and photographing local residents. Eventually, I decided to create a project about the people I met. Now, as some of these individuals have become friends, I continue to meet others whose families have lived in this area for many generations.
Since I love meeting and talking with different people, this is a perfect project for me. I am now close with a family that lives about a mile from me. They have homeschooled nine children—three are still at home, and the rest are married and living in different parts of the county. With just this one family, I have so many people to photograph. Through them, I met another woman who lives on a farm half an hour from my house. She also has nine homeschooled children; some live with her, a few with her ex-husband, and some are married.
Then, I meet their friends and their families, and I have an ever-growing community of people to photograph. I feel like a kid in a candy store.
I love photographing communities. I am a documentarian, capturing communities over long periods of time.
Pond on a Foggy Afternoon © Susan Anthony
Daisy and the Pigs © Susan Anthony
Susan Anthony was born in Brooklyn, NY. She has been an artist all her life, beginning as a painter and over the last twenty-five years emerging as a photographer. Susan graduated from Cooper Union and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from NYU in Fine Arts and Art Therapy. Her latest projects were done in upstate New York, where she has a home in Columbia County, and in Manhattan, where she has lived and worked for many years.
www.susanbanthonyphotography.com
@susanbanthonyphoto
All about Susan Anthony
Amber and Ryan © Susan Anthony
