Sara Pajunen’s “Mine Songs”: An Artistic Reflection on the Dichotomy and Transformation of the Iron Range

In the heart of Minnesota, the Iron Range stretches, a testament to the dichotomy of human artifice and nature. It is a place where the raw beauty of the wilderness meets the relentless pursuit of industry, a place where the silent whisper of the wind through the pines is punctuated by the distant echo of iron ore being dug from the earth. It is here that Sara Pajunen’s “<a href="http://www.josephneasegallery.com/exhibitions/sara-pajunen2" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Mine Songs</a>” finds its inspiration, a long-term project that uses a unique blend of violin, environmental sound, image, and archival material to reframe our thinking about the altered landscape of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*-moAr-m7vOy_EDaLArqA6Q.jpeg" style="height:467px; width:700px" /> <a href="http://www.josephneasegallery.com/exhibitions/sara-pajunen2?view=slider#9" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Rust — aerial image from the northern Minnesota Iron Range</a> The Iron Range, a series of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior, shows us both the power of nature and the indomitable spirit of humanity. The ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants Range batholith, an outward manifestation of the ancient geological forces that shaped the land. The iron deposits are Precambrian in age, in many ways representing the enduring strength of the earth. <a href="https://medium.com/joseph-nease-art-gallery/sara-pajunens-mine-songs-an-artistic-reflection-on-the-dichotomy-and-transformation-of-the-iron-4b019154b589">Read More</a>