Fellows Follow-Up: Jonna McKone

Storytellers' Institute 2015 Visiting Fellow Jonna McKone worked with MDOCS' Adam Tinkle to organize a spring break visit to the Capital Districtor Rutgers University students, including a workshop at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY, and stops in Saratoga and at Skidmore.

In the summer of 2015 I participated in a residency with MDOCS to further explore themes of family, particularly my father's archive. 

I've been lucky enough to return to that theme through a fellowship offered by Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies. Since September I've been collaborating with Rutgers University students who have experiences with child welfare, foster care or homelessness. Most of the students are the first in their families to attend college and they're navigating an array of experiences related to family history, class, memory and identity that have made their way into our collaboration. All of the students are part of an incredible program called the Price Family Fellows, housed within the Institute for Families at the School of Social Work at Rutgers University. The students take part in life skills workshops, goal setting and receive other supports in their college journey.. 

Through workshops, writing and field visits, we have been jointly working to make personal stories about their lives. Most students are working on individual photography projects - some involve journeys, maps, writing - all use the lens through which to see and understand the past and the way forward. As we finish our individual photography projects, we are looking towards a book that could incorporate and distill these disparate threads. I have been drawn to a book because it feels permanent and tactile, and I think the thought, care and beauty (the lay out, quality of the print or the image itself) of a book really matters to the students. Many have had to rebuild -- whether that's a home, a sense of family, or a focused trajectory. I think their stories deserve something bound and printed.

Through the generosity of the Price Family Fellows program, Adam Staats, senior program coordinator and I were able to take the students on a spring break residency. Early on I had a generative conversation with Adam Tinkle about my plans to take the students on a trip. We discussed why would embark on such an adventure: to leave the the Rutgers campus where we meet regularly, to meet and engage with new artists, to be inspired, to spend time as a collective and be in the woods.  We ended up meeting with Adam Tinkle for the first part of our trip.

At the Tang Museum, we toured and discussed the "This Place" exhibit -- a photographic exploration of Israel and the West Bank by several photographers, including Wendy Ewald. We talked about politics and art, narratives, contextual information included in the show and simply what resonated with us. The afternoon set the tone for the rest of the trip.

We then wrote personal autobiographies to our favorite music and shared them with Adam on Skidmore College’s radio station, WSPN. We also met with Daesha Devon Harris, a photographer and artist based in Saratoga Springs, NY whom I met while teaching at Skidmore last summer. Daesha grew up in Saratoga Springs and has been working on a series with found photographs that she then submerges underwater. Students discussed their work, toured Daesha’s amazing studio, and got to observe her prepare photographs for an upcoming exhibit. They were very inspired by her practice. 

For the last two days, the students participated in a two-day workshop, hosted by the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY, and facilitated by Brenda Ann Kenneally. During the workshop and leading up to it, students researched and compiled media content with personal meaning, completed life timelines, and designed sections of a personal scrapbook for an exhibit at the Zimmerli Art Museum and for the in-progress photo book. On Friday evening we hosted all of our collaborators for a group dinner.