Dana Hart-Stone

As a child, Dana Hart-Stone wandered the vast, history-rich countryside of Eastern Montana.  His discoveries of deserted homesteads provided fragmentary narratives of the grueling lives of early settlers and ignited a curiosity and wonderment for the lost histories of the American experience.  These early discoveries continue to captivate Hart-Stone’s mind and fuel his work today. Vintage, vernacular photographs have replaced his childhood wanderings, allowing him to digitally stitch together the breadth and depth of our country's Western development.  Unlike the romanticized, stereotyped, and often racist "Western" movies, Hart-Stone's work reveals layers of content celebrating the mundane lives of ordinary Americans. Hart-Stone’s work provides the viewer with an unadulterated lens through which to witness underlying stories of race, gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic positioning, and class. In this way, Hart-Stone gives a fresh voice to generations of formerly known Americans who built this country one garden at a time, one wheat field at a time, and one 4th of July parade at a time.