I was born and raised in the Twin Cities and have been absorbed by photography since viewing my father and mother’s travel slideshows as a kid. My father’s narration and the stream of his images f lickering past my eyes were like magic lantern journeys abroad. I began photographing in my early teenage years and have never stopped. In college I started collecting photography books, for classes and as an emerging passion; that activity is also an on-going commitment. I have found meaning and purpose in disseminating both my words and my images through exhibitions and publications.

The advent of social media over the last two decades has invigorated my pursuit. I am a devotee of Instagram (georgeslade.photo) and have been publishing on Substack since early 2025. I am drawn to photographic subjects that lie within a body’s length from myself. The last day of 2023 I suffered a traumatic brain injury while skiing. I continue to experience double vision, headaches, and incapacitating exhaustion. I have ceased driving, which enhances my pedestrian awareness. My photographs since the accident fascinate me; they feel like collages assembling in my head as I encounter the passing world. In fact, I have delved deeply into the practice of collage, using my own photographs and handmade paper by the artist Amanda Degener.

The Latin expression “ars longa, vita brevis” compels and functions as a mantra for me. What elements of our art will endure and outlast our lives? 


Selected Resume

Photography – Exhibitions

  • 2024Roots and Roofs: A Visual Exploration of Home : McCorvey Health and Wellness Center, Minneapolis
  • 2023REJECTED : Argyle Zebra Gallery, St. Paul
  • 2023Art on Caregiving, Aging, Death and Dying : ArtReach St. Croix, Stillwater MN

Books – Personal

  • 2023Looking Homeward : personal insights on archival photographs
  • 2022Lewiston 1980 : remembering a concert experience in Maine
  • 2021My Father’s Shirts : photographs and text about my father and Alzheimer’s

Books – Contributor

  • 2024Works in Progress 2 : Northside Artspace Lofts exh. cat. Editor, essayist
  • 2022Saint Paul Almanac vol. 13: A Path to Each Other : “Dad’s Grip” anecdotes
  • 2021PROXIMITIES art education activism by Linda Brooks : Editor, essayist
  • 2000–2024 – Essayist for monographs by over one dozen photographers

Grants & Recognition

  • 2023 – Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Arts Impact for Individuals Award
  • 2022 – Feature about My Father’s Shirts in                  Lenscratch online magazine        
  • 2021 – Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant Recipient
  • 2019 – Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Grant Recipient
  • 2009 – Future Leadership Fellow, National Arts Strategies
  • 2007 – Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program

Related Experience

  • 2022–present – Host, Photobook Banter, live conversations with photographic bookmakers
  • 2015–present – Founder & Director, TC Photo, non-profit organization connecting photographers
  • 2003–2008 – Artistic Director, Minnesota Center for Photography
  • 1998–2008 – Program Director, McKnight Foundation Artists Fellowships for Photographers
  • 1989–present – Freelance writer, photography historian, curator, lecturer, consultant

Education

  • 2014 – MA, Organizational Leadership, St. Catherine University, Saint Paul, MN (Ethics & Leadership concentration, Strategic Management Certificate)
  • 2013 – Inductee into Delta Phi Lambda Writing Society
  • 1983 – BA, American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT (Photography in American Culture concentration)

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