Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Photography
First Advisor
Laine Rettmer
Second Advisor
Brian Ulrich
Third Advisor
Sara Rich
Abstract
The following is a collection of stories and ideas about the making of our physical and emotional worlds, along with their fracturing, deconstruction, and degradation within the American industrial landscape. It suggests the value of the unknown and the grace of mistakes, emotional and material friction, and the hiccups that come with learning.
For American Paradise, I’m bringing my interest in landscape extraction, and the people and families within them, to my own autobiography. In this work I turn to where I grew up, the people that brought me there, my connection to manual labor, and the use of specific materials like sheet metal in my practice.
Recommended Citation
Hanusik, Virginia, "American Paradise" (2026). Masters Theses. 1704.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1704
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
American Art and Architecture Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Other Architecture Commons, Photography Commons