Mary Rouse (Honeoye Falls, NY) is a self-taught artist who draws influences from her Navajo Nation father and Jewish Orthodox mother, an immigrant from the Ukraine. Rouse’s experience of living largely off the grid gives her work a directness and poignancy that cuts through the cacophony of contemporary media. Along with a group of painted box towers and interesting paintings on cardboard, Rouse has created a striking group of altered photographic images. The images in this body of work come from 1940’s issues of National Geographic that Rouse saved for many years following the death of her father. Using gesso, Rouse painted portions of each image while thinking about the memories of her father and the stories the pictures tell. She was moved by nuns sewing body bags for the dead in wartime, by mountains of shoes needing repair, by children clutching guns. The dramatic results honor and explode photography simultaneously.