Marc Nelson

I was born and raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. I earned my B.A in Fine Arts from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and an Art Education Teaching Certificate from Western Illinois University. My paintings and drawings have been featured in exhibitions across Iowa and Illinois, and my work appears in public and private collections.
My paintings and drawings explore the human responses to war, genocide and cruelty. My work is inspired by historical accounts, witness poetry and the aesthetics of early photography. These photos, at once solid and immaterial, seem to speak of something barely glimpsed, something unspeakable and unknowable, like the true trauma of an event to the outside observer. For me, these photos also provoke challenging and often troubling questions about the divide between apathy and empathy, fear and the courage to stand against injustice.