“Full Moon in Scorpio” (from Midamerican Fever Dream)
Artist Summer Wagner is a storyteller, and lenses are the vehicle through which she shares her tales. The narrative imagery and video, both of which are cinematic in nature, possess a distinct aesthetic. Her photographs feature a desaturated color palette with a contrast and depth of field that makes each composition feel more like a hyperrealistic painting than something shot with a camera. Each setting, from a character’s bedroom to a darkened street, is replete with symbolic imagery that invites us to contemplate what’s beneath the surface. The result is realism with a dash of surrealism thanks to Wagner’s compositions and vision.
One collection that perhaps epitomizes Wagner’s image-making philosophy is titled Midamerican Fever Dream. Created between 2023 and 2024, the series is about a family that lives in the remains of the Rust Belt region in the United States. It features nine cinematically crafted wide shot images alongside 119 animated editions and nine NFTs. There are four characters—Judith, Ernest, Bridget, and Douglas—and their stories are told across four chapters that Wagner refers to as “waves.”
“These industries and spaces, or the memory of them, weigh on these characters’ lives,” Wagner narrates in an introduction to Midamerican Fever Dream, “and they themselves pass on the values and motives of those industries they spent their bodies on.”
Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the story of Judith, who performs a ritual and casts a spell on her family’s cough syrup. The act prompts each family member to confront their “shadow.”
Conceptually compelling and beautifully shot, the future of Wagner’s career is undoubtedly bright. My Modern Met spoke with her about how she began her career and cultivated her visual language. Scroll down to read our exclusive interview.
“Bridget in Her Old Room ” (from Midamerican Fever Dream)
What led you toward using lens-based media in your work?
I studied film in college, I planned to write and direct films. The COVID-19 pandemic pumped the breaks on this dream. I moved back home to Rockford, IL, and worked for about a year at a grocery store before saving for my first camera. I just wanted something creative to do. Many of us experienced a massive creative shift during COVID, I was one of those people. The camera and still imagery allowed me to really refine my voice and style—I embraced the challenge of directing an entire narrative and distilling it into a single image.
“Sally's Shells”
“Asleep”
Your work has a distinct aesthetic; at first glance, it looks like it could be a hyperrealistic painting. How did you develop your visual language, and what inspires you now?
I developed my style through just following my gut. I’ve always had a vibrant dream world and am deeply moved by daily natural expressions of the surreal. What a lot of people don’t realize is that 75% of the “effect” of my images isn’t in the editing, but in finding the perfect moment, places, and people to capture—where the light hits a face or scene just right. Once I learned to find and intuit those moments, the color grade just evolved naturally. I have countless inspirations, but recently I’ve been very inspired by Zakir Hussain, Lars Von Trier, Ted Chiang, Ursula K LeGuin, and Leonard Cohen.
“Shadow of a Tree”
“Thursday Night Dinner” (from Midamerican Fever Dream)
How do you see your aesthetic evolving the longer you work?
It’s hard to say exactly how my work is evolving, I feel like it’s still in its infancy! What I can say is that I have a growing hunger for telling stories and developing characters through more than still images.
Your work has a theatrical, narrative quality to it. Do you “write” the stories before you start shooting? Or do you let it unfold as you work?
It depends on the project. There are some sets where I have very defined characters and scenes where I’ve written the entire narrative beforehand. But, I also shoot casually all the time too and will allow for stories to tell themselves in moments that I capture. I do a lot of writing in the edit as well, where I pair images that weren’t taken at the same time together. I find that I do my best work when I’m able to combine these processes.
“Mother of Industry” (from Midamerican Fever Dream)
“Ernest in His Office” (from Midamerican Fever Dream)
Can you take us through one piece you’re particularly proud of, or one that you feel epitomizes the work you like to make?
I’m really proud of this image called Coming of Age from my collected Midamerican Fever Dream.
This is a single exposure taken in my hometown of Rockford, IL. I had been staring at this location every time I drove past for probably years, knowing I would shoot there one day. You can’t see it in the image, but at the top of the hill above the people is a parking garage that lights the grass with that sort of sick-wash yellow. This piece had to be taken in a matter of about 20 minutes during blue hour, right when the sun has just set.
This piece wouldn’t have happened without my friend Megan Devine who sourced and coordinated all of the extras. In the center of the image, one character from the series (the older woman) passes another character (young woman) a jaw bone. I have been using the jaw bone of a deer as a recurring symbol in my work and it feels like this image truly epitomizes what it means to pass that symbol down to another generation.
“Coming of Age” (from Midamerican Fever Dream)
What are you working on next? Anything exciting you can share?
I have two more video works I’ll release this year, sort of visual vignettes about connection and relationships. That’s what’s on the immediate horizon. I’ve mostly spent this last year writing and reading—soaking in the world and pondering a way to interpret all this chaos somehow. I’m just starting preproduction on my next collection, which I’m not ready to talk about quite yet but am extremely excited about!
“Chemical Baptism One: Cult of Pebbles”
“Shadow of a Tree”
