Amanda Bauer (b. St. Louis, MO) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York. Amanda’s practice begins with research, often sifting through voluminous amounts of material to find that spark of inspiration for her next project. Her work investigates the intersection of history, ethnography and storytelling within the context of American socio-political structures. Working with photography, video, animation, installation and the written word, she combines real and imagined stories to create a space where myths about marriage, family, heritage and domestic life can be explored and challenged.


I am a multidisciplinary artist investigating the intersection of history, ethnography and storytelling within the context of American socio-political structures. Through an archive of objects, images, documents and letters which belonged to my paternal grandparents of Mattoon, IL, my current project engages a lifelong curiosity about my grandparents’ relationship and the context surrounding their divorce in the mid 1950s. Exploring the artifacts and events from their lives through my camera’s lens, the study of these materials enables me to connect with my paternal lineage and engage with family and friends. The items within the archive are catalysts for personal and collective historical investigations, which draw on the cultures where my family has spent significant amounts of time, namely Missouri and Illinois. Although this work is personal in nature its themes of identity, social order, domestic life and family culture are universal. This body of work includes large-scale ink-jet prints of my grandfather’s hand-made contraptions; short “animated portraits” of my grandmother and their house; installations of quilts my grandmother made by hand, the Box Brownie camera she used for family snapshots, and more. I am also currently in the post-production phase of a 60-minute single-channel film which collapses the ‘past’ and ‘present’ into a single narrative combining photography, animation, live-action, and voiceover. My observations and commentary create a space where myths and perceptions about marriage, family, heritage and domestic life are challenged and questioned.