Ann Fessler's Close To Home evokes the sights and sounds of the rural Midwest, as it tells the autobiographical tale of a young girl who grew up in a river community and was later propelled—by coincidence, dreams, and fate—to the hometown of her biological mother at the headwaters of the same river.

Premiering at the Bell Gallery, the multi-media installation is the latest in a series of works in which the artist addresses issues related to adoption. Fessler's greatest strength may be her ability to comment on highly personal subjects without falling into sentimentality. The videos are poignant and touching, but her intelligence, critical distance, and well-honed sense of humor save them from sentimentality.

Upon entering Close To Home, viewers encounter two large wire corn cribs and a wall-size projection on a semi-transparent scrim. The projected images, black and white archival photos of farm life in the early 1950s, are accompanied by a sound track of ambient noises—birds, wind, rain—and a musty barnyard smell that emanates from (2-1/2 tons of) dried feed corn. This evocation of the American Midwest comes into clearer focus when viewers discover a third corn crib, behind the scrim, at the rear of the gallery. Seemingly filled with corn, and yet open inside, the crib serves as a viewing area for an eight-minute long video. The various elements of the installation come together with the narrative of a young girl born outside of marriage in the 1950s.

Fessler's wit is evident in all her works. Whether she is sharing a childhood fantasy of being adopted by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans or examining her relationship with her mother—as she does in Cliff & Hazel, her poignant 1999 film—the artist maintains a critical distance. She presents her personal experiences as examples of universal issues.

Ann Fessler, a professor of photography at Rhode Island School of Design, is a native of Ohio; she studied at Ohio State University and the University of Arizona. Her earlier works based on adoption themes include Genetics Lesson (1990), Ex/Changing Families (in collaboration with Carol Flax, 1996) and Cliff and Hazel (1999), a humorous film portrait of adoptive parents.