Student Feature – Madison McKenna

Madison McKenna was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1992. She recently graduated from RIT with a BFA in Professional Photographic Illustration, majoring in Fine Art Photography. Her work involves collections in terms of memory and the autobiography, and stories that a place can tell through visual artifacts and clues. She will spend the next year working in Boston before pursuing a master’s degree.

The School asked Madison,
“What was your most challenging assignment as a photography student?”
[Madison] I accept every assignment as a challenge but the most challenging would be the body of work I made for the fine art senior exhibition (http://the-state-of-things.com/). In the fine art program, we work on long term self assigned projects. It is the responsibility of each student to make a strong body of work accompanied by an artist statement and a gallery installation. Being self motivated and driven is very important and the structure of our core courses is what sets the fine art program apart from the other BFA programs. It was up to me to conceptualize, photograph, and produce a body of work to represent my progress over the past four years – it was the most challenging but also the most rewarding “assignment”.

The School asked Madison,
“What do you love about the school?”
[Madison]   I would say that our remarkable faculty has been one of the biggest factors towards my success. The ability to form professional relationships and lasting bonds with some of my instructors has influenced my outlook on contemporary photography. Being able to work closely with two of my biggest influences, as a teacher’s assistant was one of my favorite opportunities of the past four years. One of my instructors recommended me to TIME Magazine and helped me get the job as a photographer’s assistant for a cover story. I can’t thank them all enough and they are what I will miss the most about RIT.

Find more of Madison’s work at:
http://www.madisonmckenna.com