Laura Tanner Graham
Straddling drawing and social practice, Laura Tanner's works act as archives of regional foodways, shedding light on how recipes and traditions surrounding the gathering table reflect collective identity. Through collaborations with historical institutions and local communities, Tanner's work reveals challenges confronting communities across America and exposes the extraordinary disparity between perceived and experienced narratives as told by those who are enduring them. Tanner has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Springfield Art Museum, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Susquehanna Art Museum. Her research has been supported through numerous fellowships and residencies, including A Studio in the Woods at Tulane University, the Ucross Foundation, and the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. In 2023, select drawings from Tanner's ongoing project, Dish, were selected for publication in the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a two-part congressionally mandated report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program with a mission to assess the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States. Tanner currently lives in Boca Raton, FL.