Born 1962 in Philadelphia, PA
Lives and works in Denver, CO
Joann Brennan’s photographs grapple with the question of how we sustain wildness in a human world. Her work recognizes the paradoxical nature of human efforts to control and conserve wildlife. In her Managing Eden series, Brennan captures stewardship efforts across the country, showing the intimate relationship between scientists and their specimens.
Image Gallery
Joann Brennan, Mallard Egg Contraception Research, located in the “Simulated Natural Environment Room.” National Wildlife Research Center. Fort Collins, Colorado, 2000 chromogenic print, 20 x 24 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie and Robert Lewis, 2010.45.2, © 2000, Joann Brennan
Joann Brennan, Mallard Egg Research Testing Potential Chemical Contraceptives Designed to Manage Overabundant Canada Goose Populations. National Wildlife Research Center. Fort Collins, Colorado, 2000, chromogenic print, 20 x 24 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice, 2010.67, © 2000, Joann Brennan
In her Managing Eden series, Joann Brennan grapples with the question of how we sustain wildness in a human world. Here, Brennan captures the work of scientists who are attempting to control Canada goose populations. Canada geese have become a potential threat to public health in suburban areas where green spaces and artificial waterways offer ideal habitats. Brennan’s image considers the necessity of human intervention to maintain the balance between human needs and those of avian populations.
Joann Brennan, Peregrine Falcon. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Zoology Department (over 900 speciments in the collection). Denver, Colorado, 2006, chromogenic print, 20 x 24 in., Courtesy of the artist, © Joann Brennan. Image courtesy of the artist, Denver, CO
In addition to picturing bird conservation in the field, Joann Brennan’s Managing Eden project documents scientists and specimens in museums. The falcon pictured here is in the collection of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Its powerful wing extends upward as reminder of the bird’s former speed and strength. Brennan hopes that images like this will raise appreciation for the valuable role that museums play in the stewardship of nature. The solutions to tomorrow’s environmental crises could lie in the specimen drawers of today’s museums.
Joann Brennan, Extinct Species, Passenger Pigeon. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Zoology Department (over 900 speciments in the collection). Denver, Colorado, 2006, chromogenic print, 20 x 24 in., Courtesy of the artist, © Joann Brennan. Image courtesy of the artist, Denver, CO
Joann Brennan, King Fisher Specimen with Arsenic. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Zoology Department (over 900 speciments in the collection). Denver, Colorado, 2005, chromogenic print, 20 x 24 in., Courtesy of the artist, © Joann Brennan. Image courtesy of the artist, Denver, CO
Joann Brennan, Researchers, Exploring Strategies for Managing Black Vulture Populations, Prepare to Draw Blood From a Captured Black Vulture. National Wildlife Research Center. Gainesville, Florida, 2001, chromogenic print, 20 x 24 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by David S. Purvis, 2010.66, © 2000, Joann Brennan
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Joann Brennan's photographs grapple with the question of how we sustain wildness in a human world. Her work recognizes the paradoxical nature of human efforts to control and conserve wildlife. In her Managing Eden series, Brennan captures stewardship efforts across the country, showing the intimate relationship between scientists and their specimens. Her images were featured in the exhibition The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art.
Barbara invited me to join her photographing in the Northeast. She had an idea to go and photograph hunting, and I joined her. For a year or two we photographed hunting together. We each made different kinds of photographs, but it helped me understand what kind of rigor I should be applying to my creative process. I learned a lot from working with Barbara.
Over time, I began to broaden the scope from hunting to wildlife conservation, looking at specimens in museum collections. The project was really all about trying to understand - what is our relationship to nature? There is always a reference to humanness, human beings,
how we're trying to manage wildlife populations.
At first, when I started photographing a long time ago, I had this idea that nature was lost. That in the future, because of our intense impact on the environment that someday we might not have wildness in our backyards or wild places in the world. As I photographed and met people, I realized that there are amazing experts out there working really hard to try to find this balance between human concerns and wild populations.
Twenty years later in the project I'm hopeful, because I do think the best and brightest minds are working to figure out how we're going to do this, how we're going to live in harmony with nature. It's interesting, because I think living in harmony with nature actually means an amazing amount of artificial management. Artificial in the fact that we do all kinds of things to try to manage wildlife populations, to manipulate habitat for the well-being of wild animals, and I do believe that that's actually critical. I think if we weren't managing nature the way that we are we would absolutely lose it.