After the loss of a close family member, photographer Erinn Springer returned to her childhood home in rural Northern Wisconsin in 2019, seeking a part of herself that had been latent in her adult years. Using photography initially as a coping mechanism for her grief, Springer discovered an inner dormancy that reflected the landscape around her—first with the polar vortex (a record-breaking cold in Wisconsin) in 2019, followed by the lockdown of the pandemic in 2020–21. What was intended as a short stay, stretched into years as she spent mornings feeding mules, afternoons power-washing barns, and long nights running hounds, often with her camera close by. Travelling locally, Springer photographed family and community members in hopes of reaching a new understanding of regional and personal history. She found more questions than answers.
The resulting ongoing series, Dormant Season, is an exploration of the contrasting realities of an evolving agrarian world. The work portrays the connection and isolation of the modern Midwest captured in fleeting moments, where the story of self and society intertwine with the cycles of the seasons. Textures of domestic life and incidences of familial dynamics provide an intimate glance into a realm suspended between past and present. The series offers a portrait of the intergenerational bonds of rural America—a mental space and a physical place at the heart of an old dream rapidly transforming.
Springer holds a BA from Parsons, The New School of Design, in New York. Her photographs are featured in numerous publications including the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Vogue. Springer currently splits her time between Duluth, Minnesota; Menomonie, Wisconsin; and Brooklyn, New York.