Studios > Ann Lepore
Ann Lepore
I have been conducting historical research for the past few months at WWII POW sites in New York and New Jersey. At these locations I have examined photographs, recorded statements, and diaries or other ephemera from the prisoners at these camps and from residents of the communities that these camps were in.
I would like to research new technologies and methods for projecting computer animations, using custom -built projectors, mirrors and other tools. The overall goal for the projection is for it to both be interactive in some way and for it to speak to the aesthetics of printmaking styles of public protest 1930-1945. I am looking to display details from these communities that I have researched in order to bring a historically accurate texture to the unique setting of the story. In addition, I hope to combine the details of these unique WWII period stories with data and experiences that I will be recording from “On the Street” interviews in Newark, NJ in the proximity of the gallery.
I have delved into the historical circumstances that shape these stories and now need space and time in order to incorporate the language of the medium of 3d animation- (a tool currently in use by the Department of Defense for basic combat training), and create a way to combine it with the nuanced movements of birds, live video recordings and interactive props.
The long-term goal is for this richly animated installation and group of resulting prints to be exhibited in Newark as well as in the researched former POW communities of Oswego, NY, Geneva, NY and Fort Dix, NJ in a way that will promote a re-examination of the present as well as our own history with a global perspective.
I have completed several projects documenting the complex relationships between insular or private communities, and the larger public communities that surround them. This is a theme that was started with my work and residencies at Taliesin, where I documented the relationship between the exclusive intellectual enclave of Frank Lloyd Wrightʼs Fellowship located at Taliesin and the surrounding farming community of Spring Green, Wisconsin.
What I have discovered so far from my research is that during World War Two, over 371,00 German and Italian Prisoners of War were held in POW camps throughout the United States. The story I am focusing on follows a German prisoner held at an agricultural labor camp. With most of the male residents of the town having already enlisted in the fighting abroad, the community becomes dependent on the labor of the POWs to harvest crops and unusual relationships begin to form. This story is visually very poetic: it references the sudden ice storms common in upstate NY, (and one in particular which felled an entire flocks of Scarlet Tanagers) and highlights one of the pilots from the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) division of the Army Air Corps.
The images and installations I create are heavily influenced by my experiences not just as an artist, but as a member of a community that is defined by the physical assertions and limitations of a very specific environment.
