Treece

Photographer

Dina Kantor

Concept

Treece, Kansas is a former mining town with a population of around 140. Its last mine closed in the 1970s, leaving a small community of the children and grandchildren of miners.

Over time, Treece became economically and environmentally devastated. In 2000, the poverty level was more than twice the national average. According to a 2009 EPA test, 8.8 percent of children in Treece were shown to have elevated blood-lead levels, compared to just 2.9 percent statewide. Poor mining practices left the ground unstable and full of sinkholes. Mountains of “chat,” the toxic remnants of the mining, surround the town. The entire town (which is a designated EPA superfund site) is in the final stages of a government-funded relocation program.

I'm interested in how the town’s sense of community is adapting as they prepare to move to their different destinations. My photographs serve as an archive of the community, a document of its transformation, and an investigation into the environmental and economic impact of past practices on both individuals and the landscape.

Biography

Dina Kantor is a photographer and educator based in Brooklyn. She has exhibited nationally, and her work is included in the permanent collections of the Jewish Museum in New York, The Portland Art Museum, and the Southeast Museum of Photography. Dina’s work was featured in The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography in 2009. In 2007, she was named to Heeb Magazine’s Heeb 100 list, as well as being included in PDN’s Photo Annual. She received the Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer's Fellowship in 2012.

Dina grew up in Minneapolis, where she began her career at the City Pages. She received her MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts, and her BA in journalism and studio arts from the University of Minnesota. Currently, Dina teaches at ICP, SVA and Adelphi University.

www.dinakantor.com

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