Nanci Kahn is a photographer and sculptor based in Falmouth, Maine. She received her BFA from Cornell University, then she earned her MFA of Photography at San Francisco Art Institute. She has exhibited in galleries and museums in Maine, New York, San Francisco and Ethiopia. Her work can be found in the permanent collections at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, The Kroch Library at Cornell University, the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, the Stephen K Halpert Photography Collection at the University of New England, Portland, Maine., and the Judy Ellis Glickman Collection, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.

Maya: Briefly explain your artistic process and how it came to be?

Nanci: I take an intuitive approach to making art and photography. I follow my senses and discover things that spark my passions.  The subconscious works in a way that’s sometimes more intelligent than my conscious brain in the beginning of a project. So I follow my heart and intuition. Once I find my heart in the work, it is easier for me to connect to it intellectually, and allow myself to work more mindfully and methodically. Case in point, the work I have at Cove St right now is a body of work called “Trust”. It is comprised of 24-6”x6” inch wood panels that began  as photographs, and then became layered with encaustic and oil paints. First I was just experimenting with encaustics and oil paints on top of photographs I already had and the work evolved and grew from there.

Maya: Please tell me more about your exhibition, “Trust” at Cove Street Arts and what it means to you.

Nanci: TRUST. This has become my mantra in the Covid-19 era. I think about it any time I leave home. Can we really trust a person always wears their mask and washes their hands? Can we really trust what the government is saying? And why don’t some trust the science? This work has layers of disease and beauty, using photographs, encaustics and oil paint. They are flowers that have poisonous components. They are cancer cells that sometimes look as benign as plankton. They’re coronavirus and HIV cells. They’re also photomicrographs from a Maine Medical Center Research Institute scientist. She builds armatures from silkworm silk on which she researches ways to eradicate cancer. Together, they form a grid of many properties - deceiving ones, healing ones, lethal ones - each echoing the chaotic socio-political climate of 2020. 

Maya: Who or what are some of your biggest inspirations?

Nanci: My earliest photography heroes were Henri Cartier-Bresson and Diane Arbus. Cartier-Bresson was definitely first. He made such beautiful visual poetry of everyday life on the streets that I was inspired to become a street photographer, always looking for that “Decisive Moment”. I was attracted to his street photography when I was passionate about street photography. While in college I found Diane Arbus. I was so fascinated with her portraits that I used to take her book out the library at the beginning of every semester and keep it as if it were mine. 

Maya: How has your artistic working methods changed over the past year?

Nanci: The beginning of the Covid pandemic quarantine last year was a kind of scary yet freeing time. I couldn’t go to my work place but I could get up and just go to the studio. Because I was not under any time restraints, it allowed me to just do what I was doing without that voice; that self-critiquing, self-criticizing voice that is present way too much! I was just working and enjoying the work.  It was really amazing. It made me want to do a residency again, to have that unrestricted time and freedom to just create. 

Maya: How did you become involved with the Bakery photo Collective?

Nanci: I’ve had a long relationship with the Bakery from when they first started in the Calderwood Bakery building because I knew one of the founders. I had very young children at that time. The Bakery grew at the same pace as my family grew, so some years were more challenging than others to be involved. The Bakery offers me a great place work and be involved with other wonderful photographers and like-minded people. I have made some amazing friendships through the Bakery and am thankful for its existence.

Maya: Do you have any specific hopes for the Bakery?

Nanci: Right now we have such a wonderful membership, I can only hope we continue to grow and have a lot of fun along the way. 

Maya: Please tell me more about “Photo Voice” and the work you are doing with Maine Native Youth.

Nanci: Bakery member Tim Peters and I wrote a grant along with the Wabanaki Public Health organization to teach photography to Native youth. Because I have a background in teaching at the University level and Tim is so knowledgeable about gear and tech stuff, we made a pretty good team. Through the grant we purchased 10 Nikon DSLRs, and Photo Voice was created. We taught the youth how to use their cameras, what makes a good photograph, taught some photo history by looking at other photographers work and held critiques. We taught photography to try to open the youth’s minds to a new art form and way of expressing their voices. Saige Purser from WPH helped the youth think about how to spotlight the strengths and positive influences in their lives, along with the negative *forces. She was organizing the youth and striving to help them look at what it means to be a member of their community. The Pandemic delayed the completion of our project, which is to culminate in an exhibition of the youth’s work, but we are almost there.  The printing is all done and we are looking forward to being able to gather as a group again and look at all the youth’s accomplishments. Hopefully with an in-person exhibition, if not a virtual gallery. 

Maya: What is your outlook on the role of an artist in today’s society?

Nanci: There’s a really good quote from Martha Graham “No artist is ahead of his or her time, they are of their time. It is everyone else who is behind”.

Maya: Do you have any hopes for your work in the future?

Nanci: I’m right at that mid-point of a new body of work where I have been working intuitively and everything is starting to coalesce into something that is starting to make sense intellectually. Now the real work begins!  

TRUST by Nanci Kahn is currently on view at Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine. You can visit the exhibition at 71 Cove Street, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm