ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jeanine Michna-Bales (American, b. 1971) is a visual storyteller working in the medium of photography. Her work explores the impact of cornerstone relationships on contemporary society—the bonds with ourselves, others, communities, and the land we inhabit. Her work sits at the crossroads of curiosity and knowledge, combining documentary, fine art, and activism with disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, and environmental studies.
Through deeply researched photographic essays—often incorporating primary-source materials, Michna-Bales connects the past to the present to address societal disparities in order to foster dialogue that inspires viewers to reconsider how they engage with others and the world as a whole.
Michna-Bales’ work is held in permanent collections including the Archive of Documentary Arts, Duke University, Durham, NC; Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX; and University of North Texas, Denton, TX.
Her photographs have been exhibited nationwide and are currently featured in three traveling exhibitions (Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad, 2017-2032, A Yellow Rose Project 2020 - 2025 and Two Minutes to Midnight and the Architecture of Armageddon, 2021-2026), with a fourth set to launch (Standing Together: Inez Milholland’s Final Campaign for Women’s Suffrage, 2025-2030). Selected solo exhibitions have been hosted at AIRIE (Artist in Residence in the Everglades) Nest Gallery, Everglades National Park, Homestead, FL; Dunn Museum, Libertyville, IL; Gettysburg Foundation, Gettysburg, PA; Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence, AL; Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL; Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience, Meridian, MS; Museum of Science and History,Memphis, TN; The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.; and Ypsilanti District Library, Ypsilanti, MI. Selected group exhibition venues include Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN; National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque, NM; Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA; Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Jacksonville, FL; Open Society Foundations, New York, NY; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; and the Rubenstein Library Photography Gallery, Duke University, Durham, NC. She has also been invited to give artist talks at over 50 institutions and festivals nationwide including the National Gallery of Art.
Her work has been written about extensively, including in two monographs, Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad (2017), Standing Together: Inez Milholland’s Final Campaign for Women’s Suffrage (2021) and a photo book co-authored with Adam Reynolds, COUNTDOWN: A Visual Exploration of the Cold War’s Opposing Architecture (2022). It has also been highlighted in numerous publications and online including BBC World News, CityLab from The Atlantic, Dallas Morning News, Feature Shoot, Geo Historie, Hyperallergic, In Sight by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lenscratch, Outrider, NPR (National Public Radio), NBC4 Washington D.C., The New York Times, Oxford American Eyes on the South, Smithsonian Magazine, Transition from Harvard University, UK Daily Mail, among other outlets.
Including other honors, Michna-Bales was awarded anArtist Residency in the Everglades (AIRIE)in 2018 and her work was selected for the2016 Documentarian of The American South Collection Awardfrom the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University. She was named to theCritical Mass Top 50in 2014 and again in 2017.
Whether exploring the darkened stations along the Underground Railroad in Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad (2002 - 2016), a campaign trail for women’s votes in Standing Together: Inez Milholland’s Final Campaign for Women’s Suffrage (2016 - 2020), long-forgotten nuclear fallout shelters in Fallout: A Look Back at the Height of the Cold War in America, circa 1960 (2013 - 2022), or the invisible epicenters of environmental turmoil through the project Terra Fractura: A Visual Survey of Manmade Earthquakes (2015 - present), her work seeks out places that are hidden in plain sight.
