Erika Ritzel

I grew up in Carbondale, Illinois and now live in Minneapolis. I received her BFA from Webster University in St. Louis and her MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. A majority of my photographic work deals with space, family, memory, nostalgia, and loss. My work has been exhibited at the Palm Springs Art Museum in California, the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, the Minnesota Center for Photography, the Coalition of Photographic Arts in Wisconsin, the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, the Carlisle Photo Festival in England, and at the GuatePhoto Festival in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

It’s Hard to Find Home Again

The photographic project that I am submitting is titled It’s Hard to Find Home Again. The series was created while thinking about the connection between my parents, my hometown, our evolving relationships over the years, and the difficulty of being geographically separated. The images show activities and events that have occurred throughout our lives together; shoveling the driveway, eating breakfast, chores in the backyard, as well as metaphors of time and change found in the environment around us. All of the images were taken around my hometown in Illinois or here in the Twin Cities area.

To view more of Erika’s work please visit her website.