She scours auctions, peruses flea markets, investigates garage sales and scrutinizes antique stores. Nakki Goranin has a mission. Thanks to a grant from the Vermont Arts Council, the Burlington photographer is establishing a permanent display for the Vermont Health Department in the State Office building on Cherry Street. She plans to produce 20 or 25 very large black-and-white photographs for the lobby, part of an exhibit called "A Vermont Family Album."
Goranins project will "combine older images of Vermonters with contemporary images I composed myself, in an endeavor to display the history of the people in Vermont," she explains. Among 75 artists invited to apply, Goranin was one of three finalists for the public art grant, which was awarded in March. While the money covers the cost of materials and other expenses, Goranin knows shell be lucky to see much compensation for her labor - which is often the case with grants.
At any rate, she is now faced with the task of delivering the promised 20-by-24 and 16-by-20 inch images in oak frames. In her spare time, she is writing a book on the history of tintypes and a romantic novel about flying. For the grant, Goranin plans to create an uplifting and positive series of photographs for a building to which people often come because of medical problems. Goranin would like to be able to transport people away from their worries, if only for a moment. Combining private and professional interests (i.e., the historical pictures with her recent work), she is pleased with the notion of making a grand statement, one hopefully able to stand the test of time. "It's a bit scary," she suggests. "It's always going to be my latest show!"
The vintage photographs Goranin plans to use were purchased primarily at local auctions. For years, Goranin found herself bidding on family albums put up for sale, en route to becoming a collector of old photographs and photo processes. "Vermonters have access to their personal histories," she says. "The families that have lived here for generation after generation have fascinating photographs. When you stand in a house that you have seen in a picture taken over 150 years ago, it inspires a strong nostalgia for what life must have been like, and creates a strong feeling for the people in the pictures."
Goranin has amassed closets full of snapshots, in the hope of eventually donating them, as a set, to a museum. She believes that she is protecting the photos for the future and feels fortunate that an opportunity has arisen to use them for an aesthetic purpose.
An exhibit currently on display at the Cafe No No is another example of how Goranin uses photos from times gone by. Entitled "Meditation on the Long Winters of 19th Century Vermont," it is a series of narrative images, one that is the post-mortem photograph of a deceased young boy from Enosburg Falls and three of her own shots on the same theme.
Goranins work conveys the strong emotions implicit in the situation and as well as taking Vermont's often harsh climate into account. "Its my tribute to what those people went through," she says. "I tried to imagine the despair I would have felt in that situation, experiencing the loss of a child and the intensely long winter, and filtering it through what I thought were important themes for all women."
Goranin, born and raised in Chicago, became interested in photographic art at a young age by saving magazine pictures and attending theaters that showed old black-and-white movies around the clock. She pursued her interest in visuals at Indiana University, from which she graduated with a masters degree in photography. Goranin also studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. In workshops at the Maine Art Institute, she was taught photo printing on platinum, carbon and palladium. Goranin later learned how to make daguerreotypes at the George Eastman House in Rochester and tintypes and ambrotypes in New York City. Remaining a bit vague about the rest of her background, she coyly adds "that it benefits the artist to have a sense of mystery about them."
She does reveal that she works exclusively with a Nikon FM2 all-manual camera, relying only on natural lighting. Goranin prints in black-and-white or develops non-silver prints on platinum, palladium, or carbon, in the belief that more profound and spiritual experiences can be achieved this way. "I find black-and-white to be very expressive," she explains. "You can manipulate the mood of the picture depending on how much light you allow. Plus, without color distracting you, the viewer is allowed to focus on the subject and the experience - instead of, for example, how brilliant the blue is." A firm believer that "when you shoot, you shoot for yourself," she hopes to make her specific emotions at the time come out on paper. "Photography, for me, is not a process that always involves conscious thought."
Goranin says shes a passionate person who often finds herself mesmerized by work. "There are times akin to Zen moments, when im swept away by emotion. The camera and my eye become simultaneous. Its like wearing contact lenses; the camera simply becomes a part of you."
This article originally appeared in the 7/24/96 issue of VOX, an arts weekly based in Burlington, VT.
© Todd Meigs
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