Eyes of the World
As I concluded my first year as CVEDC’s sixth Executive Director, I’ve had some moments of deep reflection on the bigger picture of this work. In our region’s downtowns, 2018 business was very good; 2019 was better. Then came Covid, followed by two “hundred year” floods. These last six years send data off the graph in both directions.
I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts (surprise!) from Johnson State College and am, for certain, a “visual thinker.” So as I pondered the pattern and design of this unwieldy economic data, I found myself drawn to images that tell the story of these times.
I observed that Shannon Alexander, a Barre-based photographer, was recording these images. Many of them. Shannon’s involvement at CVEDC predates my own, as her photography stands out as the only locally-sourced adornment of the website I inherited when I joined the organization in 2021. Her incredible images of Pete Colman and AR market graced the inaugural issue of this newsletter.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander, Pete Colman of AR Market
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander, AR Market
Shannon was frequently at events I was at as she documented the economic development work of both the Barre Partnership and Barre Area Development with her incredible photographs. As I grew better-versed in this work, the images Shannon captured resonated with me on new levels.
As much as Shannon’s photos captured people’s work, businesses, creations and livelihood in a way that reinforces pride and achievement, she manages to showcase the people involved in the story at the same time.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander, George Sawyer and Erin Smith of Sawyer Made
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander
I was also struck by Shannon’s photos of Governor Scott. As a collection, they tell a story of a leader as he engages with the people his work supports. I found myself feeling I knew the Governor better through Shannon’s photographs of him.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander, Governor Scott with Byron Atwood of DMS Machining
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander, Governor Scott at Central Vermont Career Center.
A flood-responsive program we at CVEDC have administered since November 2023 is called the Small Business Uplift. Funded by Phish’s Waterwheel Foundation, Vermont Main Street Flood Recovery Fund, and the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, this program funded professional services to flood-impacted business owners.
We worked with a wide list of different service providers in the program, including several photographers. We worked with business owners to photograph meals for new menus, product images for websites, and photographs that could be used to market offerings and pivots of the business, post-flood.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander
CVEDC has been fortunate to have a visual storyteller join our team and bring her work to live alongside ours. As I pondered the impact of the images Shannon captures and the stories they create, I recall references that seem singular to my experience as a rural teenager becoming aware of the consumer experience in the 1990s. Shannon’s work reminds me of the film Koyaanisqatsi, of early editions of the magazine Adbusters. Except where these were overt and political commentary an consumerism and capitalism, Shannon’s work makes a different comment. With the same fine eye and compelling narrative, Shannon tells the story of the work, and people, of our region.
—Melissa Bounty, Executive Director