Entry Title: " The Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait"
Name: Dennis Manarchy, United States
Category: Professional, Deeper Perspective


Story: Over 12 years in the making, "Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait" is a cultural series featuring Dennis Manarchy's hand-constructed 35-foot film camera that will travel more than 20,000 miles across the United States of America to document over 50 of our nation's vanishing cultures. The detail in each 6x4-foot negative far surpasses digital technologies, but more importantly provides a true and inspiring glimpse of the extraordinary and often unrecognized people that have helped to shape our nation. Each face represents a unique heritage. Each portrait is a window into an unknown world and a lifetime of unimaginable experiences. The culmination of the project will be exhibitions, documentaries and educational materials that will collectively provide a snapshot of our diverse nation before these cultures disappear forever. It will also commemorate an era of traditional film photography as we approach the 200th anniversary of the invention of the camera. "Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait" is an opportunity to gain an understanding of the spirit of our people and the ways in which the advancement of our nation has been impacted by our rich heritage.

Dennis Manarchy was raised in Rockford, Illinois and grew a love for photography at an early age. He won a scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and then served an apprenticeship for the legendary photographer, Irving Penn.   After serving as Lieutenant in the Vietnam War, Dennis returned home disillusioned and met a Lumbee Indian chief in a North Carolina bookstore. After sharing his story he was invited to move in with the tribe and he spent 6 months readjusting and refocusing on photography. This was a pivotal experience and has manifested itself in Dennis’ latest project, “The Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait.”   After leaving the tribe, Dennis returned to the Midwest, opened a studio in Chicago and built an international clientele. Throughout his career, he has been honored with national and international awards for his work on campaigns from Porsche to Nike to Harley Davidson to Dior. His first book, “En Passant,” was awarded the American Graphic Design award and his latest books, “METAL” and “METAL2,” each won Graphis Gold in 2009 and 2010.   Dennis’ solo exhibition of “METAL” is currently on display at Hilton|Asmus Contemporary in Chicago, Illinois. “The Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait” is his current project, which has consumed the past decade of his life.  This ambitious undertaking combines Dennis’ 35-foot film camera with a vision to photograph and commemorate over 50 of the nation’s vanishing cultures for massive nomadic exhibitions, film documentaries and educational materials.   Dennis’ work is held within permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.  His creative projects have included: Dinner Roles, METAL/METAL2 (gallery exhibition), En Passant, Homeless (gallery exhibition), Nudes, Atchafalaya, Objet d’Art, White Trash, What Do You Think of Before Going to Sleep? (gallery exhibition), Private Investigations, The Serpent and The Flower Petals, Lips, Cadillac Tail Fins, The Greased Nude, and The Paint Tube.  His professional work has spanned over 3 decades and includes campaigns for The Gap, Dior, Nike, Harley-Davidson, Apple, Kodak, Panasonic and many others.  His work has been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Zoom, Photo, Life, Time, and most recently in Black & White Magazine (Oct. 2012).  Awards include CLIO Awards, ADDY Awards, Kelly Awards, Caddy Awards, Epica Awards, Mobius Awards, AdWeek Photographer of the Year, Graphis Design Annual Gold Award for METAL, and Graphis 100 Best in Photography for METAL.