She/Her
https://www.lesliegrantprojects.com/
lgrant081@mcad.edu
Interdisciplinary, Photography
In-person, Online, Hybrid mentor (in-person and online)

BIO 

As an artist, I focus on sites of industrial labor and the people who work there. I have worked with employees in many industries, including salt mining, logging, sugar refining, geothermal drilling, and agricultural trucking. I am interested in the experience of people at work, both from an insider and outsider perspective. I incorporate input from the workers – for example, in the form of stories, tours, personal snapshots, and hand-drawn maps. I research the site I’m focusing on through the exploration of archives and historical materials, and often add these types of images and texts to the projects. I’m trained as a photographer, and along with images I work with installation practices and sound. The presentation of a project changes over time as it is exhibited in different venues, and I aim to show the work in non-traditional locations as well as more formal gallery/museum settings. I think a lot about the communicative aspect of photography, and the power of representation in our culture. I am also interested in exploring the complex power dynamic of artist/worker in the relationships that form within my projects.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY & MENTORSHIP

As a teacher, I strive to create a working relationship with each student that resists hierarchy and focuses on mutual respect, trust, open dialogue, and co-creation of the parameters of the mentorship (or classroom experience, in an undergrad setting). I approach each student with a willingness to learn from, and value, their experience, ideas and perspective. I love art-making, talking about art and photography, reading about artists, and studying theory and conceptual practices. I am interested in the viewer and and thinking deeply about the impacts of an artist’s choices on that viewer. As a mentor, I am interested in fostering a collaborative dialogue with students to work through technical and conceptual concerns in their practice, contemplating processes and resolutions in art-making, and connecting with other artists and sharing knowledge.