With an eye for the strange and beautiful, artist Sandra Dyas presents an immersive experience in her latest series of photographs documenting people and places in Lost in the Midwest, a visual diary of contemporary Midwest life embellished with a sense of nostalgia. Dyas looks closely at the Midwest’s cultural landscape and the complexity of living here, with the intent of showing what is present and what is slowly vanishing.

Dyas is an intense observer and often finds that she becomes fully absorbed by her subjects, lost in the places and the lives of the people in the images. Popping colors, timeless details, and sensitive portraits define her best known works in the exhibition. Presented with dozens of new images, Lost in the Midwest continues to grow and evolve over time while maintaining a palpable intimacy and familiarity.

Sandra Dyas is a Lecturer in Art at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, where she teaches photography, performance art, and video. She was raised on an eastern Iowa farm in rural Jackson County and has lived in Iowa City for over 30 years. Sandra received her MFA in Intermedia from the University of Iowa. In 2007, the University of Iowa Press published her first book of photographs, Down to the River; Portraits of Iowa Musicians. She subsequently self-published two books available through blurb.com, my eyes are not shut, 2012 and Lost in the Midwest, 2016. She has exhibited extensively at galleries and museums regionally and nationally. As a freelance photographer her work has been seen in the New York Times, Vogue, People, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, and Redhouse Records.