Annick Sjobakken: States Project: Iowa

Annick Sjobakken: States Project: Iowa by Jeff RichSeptember 29, 2015

©Annick Sjobakken

Annick Sjobakken is the only photographer I’m featuring that I’ve never met. Hopefully I’ll be able to remedy that soon. I first found her work on the site Art of Iowa and realized that her work was perfect for the States Project. Her strong sense of the portrait is what I find fascinating about her work, not only in the craft of creating a portrait but the extended portrait of place and character through a series of images. She is sharing a new body of work with us for the States Project, Homes of Steel, which documents Lustron homes and their owners in Des Moines, Iowa.

Annick Sjobakken is a Des Moines based photographer and educator. She received her BFA in Photography in 2003 from Parsons School of Design and her MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in 2009. Her work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Fraction Magazine, and PDN and has been shown in numerous exhibitions.

©Annick Sjobakken

Home of Steel

When I moved to Des Moines, I tried my best to make it feel like home. As I familiarized myself with my new surroundings, I was drawn to the pastel enameled steel houses that I would see periodically. I soon learned that these prefabricated structures were called Lustron homes, which were developed in the post-World War II era for returning GIs.

I was attracted to the exteriors, and I wondered about the people who inhabited these homes. I longed to enter them and to meet their owners. I wrote letters to all of the Lustron homeowners in Des Moines and was thrilled to receive responses. One by one, strangers began to invite me into their homes. I made portraits of the homeowners and photographed the interior and exterior of each home on the day that we met. While taking photos, we would talk about the history of Lustron homes, the upkeep, and how they ended up living in one. It was fascinating to see how homes with identical floor plans, square footage, shelves, doors, and windows could be individualized by their owner. The placement of the owner’s belongings, furniture, art, posters, and small upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom, made each interior unique despite exterior appearances. When I first started the series, I had convinced myself that befriending Lustron home owners was key to assimilating into Des Moines, however none of my subjects have become my friends. Perhaps a common interest isn’t enough to form a bond, and perhaps the secret to making a new place feel like home is a mystery.