“Make Milwaukee”: Week 8 | Sonja Thomsen

“Make Milwaukee”: Week 8 | Sonja Thomsen

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Modified: 2019-02-15T10:34:24-06:00
 
Listen: For this piece, Mary Louise took me downtown to the Dean Jensen Gallery where we met photographer Sonja Thomsen. Recently, Sonja exhibited her photography installation, Lacuna, as part of the Haggerty Museum's Current Tendencies: Ten Artists From Wisconsin last spring (read Mary Louise's review in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Listen, as Sonja discusses Lacuna:

Funny enough, I first met Sonja last year at a Brewers game. "So what do you do?" "Well… I'm actually a conceptual art photographer." Unusually likeable tailgate conversation, eh? We're both alumni of Rufus King High School too!
 

 

Extra! Her family had a chance to see themselves on the wall when Lacuna was at the Haggerty — Sonja describes how they reacted: I hope she got photographs of her family interacting with the installation and each other, as that might add another fascinating layer to the work.

Sonja fills in the back story on the pan of freshly-picked raspberries above: I actually took a copy of that photograph for my office. Such a beautiful and doleful story.

 

Sonja describes a cluster of photographs (find the photographs on her website) and how they exemplify some of the major themes of Lacuna:

Want to see more of Sonja's art? You can start by checking out her blog or her website. Then, you can check out her new work Re: Current at the Dean Jensen Gallery starting on April 16th. Finally, if you'd like to see Lacuna in person this Spring, you can take a road trips to the Indianapolis Arts Center, 58 Gallery in Jersey City, or the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Whew… busy lady!

Produced by: Adam Carr

88Nine Radio Milwaukee