A Program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and The National Endowment for the Arts, “American Farmer” celebrates the living spirit of our heartland through the faces and voices of the people who keep it alive. Featuring forty-five full-color and black-and-white portraits and interviews with farmers across the United States—from cattle ranchers to strawberry growers—American Farmer tells the honest and inspiring stories of the true stewards of our land.

Photographer Paul Mobley set out to capture the soul of our country’s farm communities, encountering an enduring rural culture that remains rooted in the principles of tradition, family, integrity, and hard work. He sought the elusive spirit of agriculture, looking for subjects that mirrored the project’s sense of risk and independence. The resulting images show farmers with a strong sense of where they belong in the universe, a close connection to the land, and their day-to-day work as it affects the rest of the world. Out of a collection of more than 200 of these portraits, ExhibitsUSA has distilled a selection of forty-five iconic portraits showing the geographic and cultural diversity of the “American Farmer.”

We hope that you will join us at Manitowoc Public Library between June 17 and October 20 to celebrate this rural portraiture, an iconography with deep roots, not just in our immediate community, but our nation as a whole.