Portrait project connects residents to important places

Late last month, The Discovery Trail announced the launching of a new project it has sponsored with local photographer Robyn Wishna called Spirit of Tompkins County. The project aims to “capture and celebrate the Spirit of Tompkins County through portraits and stories,” according to its website, spiritoftompkins.org.

The project is a collaboration among The Discovery Trail, the town of Ithaca and Wishna and is part of the town of Ithaca’s bicentennial celebration in 2021. It comprises portraits of people, individually or in groups, in their homes, work, farms or other meaningful places, as the website explains. Participants chose their own place to be photographed, and each participant was asked to provide a short explanation of why they chose that place.

As organizers describe, though the idea for the project originated well before the pandemic, the pandemic has made the project all the more important.

Wishna has a long history with photography and video, including some work as a photojournalist for the Ithaca Journal. As she explained, she has always loved the county and the communities within it and has wanted to document the county’s many cultures visually, so “this project is a dream for me.”

Wishna has long been a fan of fellow photographer Verne Morton, who famously took many photos of rural areas of the county, particularly Groton, a little over 100 years ago. His work is highlighted in the book “Great Possibilities: 150 Verne Morton Photographs” and greatly inspired Spirit of Tompkins County.

“Great Possibilities” was gifted to Wishna several years ago, she explained, and she was immediately drawn to the strong style. At the time, Wishna was involved in a different portrait-collection initiative, We Are Ithaca (weareithaca.org).

Rod Howe, supervisor for the town of Ithaca, is also quite familiar with Morton’s work from Howe’s time as the director of the History Center in Tompkins County. Howe explained how Morton’s work and Wishna’s passion came together to create Spirit of Tompkins County.

“Verne Morton is well known at the History Center, and his photographs are just amazing in terms of really situating people in places that were important to them,” he said. “So, building off from the project that Robyn had been involved in — We Are Ithaca — when we knew we wanted to expand it to throughout Tompkins County, many of the more rural portions of the county, it was just a total, natural fit.”

Beth Pallace, executive director for The Discovery Trail, explained that The Discovery Trail got involved in Spirit of Tompkins County after pursuing a community listening project. Initially, Pallace envisioned the two projects merging, but it was later decided the projects should remain separate. Still, The Discovery Trail stayed involved in Spirit of Tompkins County and has been a collaborative partner ever since.

“We took a little hiatus from the tourism initiatives that we had formerly had going and really just wanted to turn inward and look at the community and learn more about what community aspirations are,” Pallace said. “We were looking to really just know more about who we are in this time in place and how we can serve the community through programs.”

Initial talks between Wishna, Howe and Pallace happened before the pandemic hit in March 2020, and their first meeting with a potential funder happened in March just before the mask mandates hit the state.

When the county shut down not long after, that effectively halted progress on Spirit of Tompkins County, causing the project to be delayed far past initial goals. Wishna was able to get a few portraits taken during the pandemic — enough to fill up the website — but advertising for the opportunity to residents outside of the town of Ithaca didn’t start until last month.

“People needed food and help with other emergency sorts of things like that,” Wishna said. “But now, I think it’s a perfect time. COVID is still with us, but because of the spring and a lot of people getting vaccinated, I think it’s a perfect time to see and learn about our neighbors and a little bit of opening up and sharing of our stories with each other.”

Howe added that the pandemic has actually amplified the project’s overall messaging.

“The experience of the past year for many of us has helped highlight, well, what places are important to us, and what members of the community are important to us?” he said. “We’re not out of [the pandemic] yet, but I think we have a deeper appreciation for what’s in our own backyard that inspires us, sustains us, motivates us.”

Pallace shared Howe’s perspective, adding the effect the portraits had on her.

“I remember the first time that we looked at some of the portraits that Robyn had completed, and it was, I think, around May of last year, and I was so emotional seeing familiar faces because we were feeling such a big sense of isolation,” she said. “It was very emotional to see even just Dan Mitchell from Ithaca Beer Co., and so, it was really powerful and a visible balm for that feeling of disconnection for sure.”

Wishna said that so far, there’s been a very positive reaction from the folks she’s been able to photograph and interview.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “Most people are happy to share some piece of themselves and their life visually, obviously, and whether it’s their house or their place of work, I think most of us, we’re proud of something. We want to share something about ourselves. And I’m really happy that so many people are willing to do that. I feel really fortunate.”

Howe was among the first group to be photographed and vouched for that positive feeling subjects have experienced getting to share a place that is important to them.

“It was interesting to try to decide where to be photographed because I had lots of places,” he said. “But the [Sackett] Bridge, I live right next to that bridge. … The bridge is really pretty amazing to me, in terms of its connection to people who are now spread around the globe, just because of who’s walked on that bridge, given its proximity to Cornell.”

Moving forward, with Spirit of Tompkins County now open to folks all across the county, Wishna is expecting 2021 to be a busy year for her, full of hundreds of photography and video sessions. She’s aiming to add between 150 and 300 portraits to the website before the end of the year.

The photos taken so far are online, and those and future photos will be displayed at sites across the county. While specific locations are still being decided, sources said they expect to have some on display within the next month or so.

Pallace added that several exhibits are planned for later this year at places like the Tompkins Center for History & Culture. The team is also working to eventually put together a documentary on the project as well as attract more funders to expand Spirit of Tompkins County even more.

If you’re interested in participating in Spirit of Tompkins County, visit spiritoftompkins.org or https://t.ly/aFdW.