Bio
Peggy Levison Nolan (b.1944) raised her seven children in the Miami area, mostly in Naranja and Hollywood, Florida. With ardent dedication and unflinching adaptability, Nolan and her family lived in working-class neighborhoods, alongside other families who became a source of support and occasionally served as her muses.
Nolan’s photographs are personal, and yet they tap into our collective nostalgia of family, young love, and boundless joy while recording a family’s resiliency amidst economic and social challenges. Nolan found photography later in life, but she has been inseparable from her cameras ever since. Inspired by the domestic space, Nolan photographed her seven children and aspects of their life as a large, boisterous family. Nolan recounts that over time, her children eventually forgot she was documenting their every move, nap, and relationship.
Nolan, steeped in the history of photography, draws on street photography with her candid and organic approach. Nolan attended Syracuse University during the 1960s and completed her BFA at Florida International University in 1990 and her MFA in 2001. She received the adjunct faculty award of the year in 2019 from FIU. She lives in Hollywood, Florida.
Listen to Peggy Levison Nolan’s Interview
Artist Statement
Got married raised seven kids lived in the projects stayed home cooked and cleaned dreamed of making art started photographing shoplifted film learned to print shot a lot of pictures stole more film moved out of the projects went back to college shot more film studied hard got a job shot more pictures got divorced got pierced up worked harder graduated from college stole more film got some grants got some attention not really enough shot more film made more and more pictures got a better job went back to college graduated from graduate school kids grew moved out of the house shot more film got more grants got more attention still not enough calmed down stopped stealing film slowed down some started thinking more shot better pictures calmed down slowed down still thinking still making pictures.