Photographer and educator Elise Kirk turns the lens on her midwest upbringing in her series “Mid—”. Originally from middle-Missouri and currently based in Kansas, the work explores what she describes as “a personal and cultural tension between rootedness and restlessness”, considering the uncomfortable state of limbo inherent in the pervasive belief that the grass is always greener elsewhere. “It’s a syndrome I’ve grappled with myself, centrifugally lapping the country in perpetual search of the impossible landing pad”, she explains. 

“As American society drifts increasingly towards untethered mobility and develops a homogenized temporary landscape in its wake, our identifications with distinct regional home places are more likely  to reach mythical proportions. As such, the Midwest becomes not just my centripetal anchor, but also my stage—a metaphorical intersection between movement and stasis drawing from observation, experience, memory and fantasy. Here, my personal myth of place unfolds.”

See more from “Mid—” below!