The Poor Farm
E6325 County Road Bb
Manawa, WI 54949
708-305-2657



They were trying to save their souls- and who but a fool could fail to see that all that was the matter with their souls was that they had not been able to get a decent existence for their bodies?

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle


Buried beneath the perpetually renewable culture wars, America’s class divide has become an abyss. Reducing political agency to a color-coded map, cable TV pundits hammer away at crude, imaginary borders between the red and the blue, while regularly decrying the polarized state of the nation.

Despite obvious links between one’s economic circumstances and their political interests, an ever widening income gap affecting millions of people from across the political spectrum is largely ignored in favor of endless coverage of the fireworks between the two major parties. With no identity to speak of, those marginalized by economic policies that fail to serve their interests are left to fend for themselves, fomenting an alienation from the political process which represents a far more likely source of America’s polarization.

In an apparent backlash against the progressive economic reforms of the New Deal period, the American media and political classes often rely on punitive, Neo-Victorian austerity policies meant to “discipline” the underclass into accepting their plight. With human interest stories focusing on individual responsibility (read: fault) or condescending sentimentality over the failings of society as a whole, true reform or change is kept in check in favor of a perpetual affirmation of America’s mythological claims to a uniquely effective system designed to promote social mobility.

Owing their origins to British Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, (the originator of the panopticon) poor farms in the U.S. can be traced to the “poor laws” of 18th Century England which led to the creation of a “total institution” affording complete control over a subject’s behavior in order to better institute social reforms. Recalling its original function as a site of domesticity, labor, and detention intended to “cure” social ills while reinforcing social hierarchies, Model Home addresses the practical and theoretical histories of the Poor Farm in Little Wolf, Wisconsin, treating the site simultaneously as a venue and actor in the theme of the exhibition.

Model Home, (Part One), After Wisconsin Death Trip, incorporates material from Michael Lesy’s classic 1970’s era account of late 19th Century life in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, one hundred miles west of the Poor Farm. Combining photographs of local photographer Charles Van Schaick with contemporaneous news stories from the local paper, the Badger State Banner, Wisconsin Death Trip describes a small Midwestern town besieged by ongoing plagues and economic misfortune.

Incorporating photographs and newspaper accounts of tragic events from a town in crisis with images of everyday life as well as staged portraits, the wide-ranging nature of the material along with its parallels to the often morbid contents of today’s all-encompassing “24-hour news cycle” lends the historical origins of the texts and images a remarkable contemporary relevance.

Accompanied by historical and contemporary artworks that examine the intrinsic rapport between the daily news, morbidity, and an almost unconscious maintenance of class conditions, Model Home, (Part One), After Wisconsin Death Trip aims to underline the key roles that locality, history, and mass media narratives might play in shaping our understanding of a particularly fraught moment in contemporary American life.

Carriage trade would like to express its appreciation and thanks to Micheal Lesy for his generosity in allowing access to material from Wisconsin Death Trip, all the artists for the loan of their artwork, Microscope Gallery, The Wisconsin Historical Society, The Poor Farm (Michelle Grabner, Brad Killam), Mr. Jacques Louis Vidal for his generous support, as well as gallery assistants Laura Li, Ana Léon, Kristin Eichenberg, and Anouk Rowlandson for their invaluable efforts on this exhibition.

Image: Charles Van Schaik, Studio Portrait of Two Young Boys and Painted Rowboat, c. 1880, 5" x 7". Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The Poor Farm, Manawa, Wisconsin, 2022, photo: James Prinz

Charles Van Schaick, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Charles Van Schaick, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Charles Van Schaick, Installation Detail, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Excerpt from the Badger State Banner, from Wisconsin Death Trip
by Michael Lesy, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Charles Van Schaick, Studio Portrait of Two Young Boys and Painted Rowboat, photograph, circa 1880-circa 1940, 5" x 7"

Charles Van Schaick, Installation Detail, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Excerpt from the Badger State Banner, from Wisconsin Death Trip
by Michael Lesy, Model Home,(Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Charles Van Schaick, Installation Detail, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Excerpt from the Badger State Banner, from Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy, Model Home, Part 1, After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Charles Van Schaick, Coins on Desk, photograph, circa 1880-circa 1940, 5" x 7"

Philip Vanderhyden, Tree People, 2022, 8 channel video, 10 min. 49 sec., Courtesy of the artist, Installation View, Model Home,(Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Philip Vanderhyden, Installation View, Model Home,(Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Philip Vanderhyden, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Peggy Ahwesh, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Peggy Ahwesh, The Falling Sky, 2017, video, 10 min. (looped), Courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery

Peggy Ahwesh, The Falling Sky, 2017, video, 10 min. (looped), Courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery

Nuotama Bodomo, Everybody Dies!, 2016, video still, 9 min., Courtesy of the artist

Nuotama Bodomo, Installation View, Poor Farm Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Nuotama Bodomo, Everybody Dies!, 2016, video still, 9 min., Courtesy of the artist

John Schabel, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

John Schabel, November 22, 1963, 1963-2020, Courtesy of the artist, Installation Detail, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

John Schabel, November 22, 1963, 1963-2020, pigmented ink print, 8.5” x 22 1/8”, Courtesy of the artist

Dorothea Lange, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Dorothea Lange, Installation Detail, Model Home,(Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Dorothea Lange, Funeral Cortege, End of an Era in a Small Valley Town, California, 1938, inkjet print, 8 3/8”x 10”, digital image, Courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

Installation View, Francisco Goya (left), Louise Lawler (right), Poor Farm Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Francisco Goya, Si son de otro linage (Perhaps They Are of Another Breed), Plate 61 from Los desastres de la guerra (The Disasters of War), c. 1812-1815, printed 1930, etching, 6” x 8”

Installation View, Louise Lawler, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Louise Lawler, Civilian, 2010, printed vinyl, 24” x 29 1/8”
Courtesy of the artist and Sprüth Magers

Peter Scott, Snapshot / Mugshot, 2022, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Peter Scott, Snapshot / Mugshot, 2022, Installation View, Model Home,(Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Peter Scott, Mugshot #5, 2022, Acrylic on reverse of cotton, dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist, photo: James Prinz

Diane Nerwen, Installation View, Model Home, (Part 1), After Wisconsin Death Trip, The Poor Farm, photo: James Prinz

Diane Nerwen, 5/24/20, 2020, Inkjet print, 8” x 10 3/8”, Courtesy of the artist