Art Opening

The Dayton Art Institute’s Regional Artists Gallery featured the black-and-white photographs of Yellow Springs’ artist and Antioch College faculty member Dennie Eagleson ’71. Eagleson’s exhibition, Affinities of Spirit: An Interview and Photography Project, tells the personal stories of three families, including her own.

Two of Eagleson’s series focus on non-traditional families. Eagleson interviewed and photographed both families, creating an intimate look at their private lives and interpersonal relationships. In the Jake and Judy Series, Eagleson documents a lesbian mother and her son, who was conceived by artificial insemination. “The Jake and Judy Series was the first completed series of my non-traditional family interview and photography project. With it, I had success with creating images that were evocative, rather than being purely descriptive,” said Eagleson. Along with her photographs, Eagleson uses text panels with excerpts from her interviews to help convey the thoughts and feelings of the family members. “Judy’s text is her voice expressing universal concerns about parenting that are intensified by the cultural judgments regarding her lesbianism,” explained Eagleson.

The Beatrice Series focuses on an unmarried couple and their young daughter. “Beatrice is the daughter of David and Janet, who have been together for a number of years and have recently redefined their relationship as housemates and co-parents, but not romantic partners,” said Eagleson. “They are committed to shared parenting and raising Beattie in an environment very different from their own childhood experiences, whatever their own interpersonal difficulties may be.”
Eagleson also documents her own family in the exhibition. “My work photographing non-traditional families led me to photograph my own family,

” Eagleson explained. “I had tried previously, without much success, to address the complexity of our relationships. When I was with them for a week in the summer, I made pictures almost constantly, so the camera became an extension of my heart and eye. These are the first pictures I have made that I feel reveal layers of meaning and speak to universal truths larger than just my family history.”

Eagleson received a B.A. degree from Antioch College and a M.F.A. in photography from the University of Cincinnati. She is an assistant professor of Photography at Antioch College.

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