Linda Brooks (b. 1951)

Linda Brooks combines photographs of people with text about the captured moment written within the image. These four color works are from her series Teens, a collaborative project about identity. She explains:

The photographs, with written texts by the teens, employ a collaborative process where the subjects participate in determining their body language, facial expression, clothing, and frequently location.

I have worked with teenagers and young adults for the last 40 years. As a result, I have come to know many amazing teens in ways that contradict the narrow and conventional visual definitions of teenagers commonly seen in a wide variety of photographic practices from advertising to the fine arts.

Linda Brooks is an art teacher at St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She received her B.F.A. in 1973 and M.F.A. in 1976 from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she worked with artists from Hallwalls and CEPA. She has worked as an artist and teacher in the Twin Cities for more than 30 years. Her photographs have been included in more than 90 exhibitions worldwide. She received artist fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation. —NW