About

In 2023, with support from a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, I began Project Unincorporated MN — an ongoing photography project shedding light on Minnesota’s often overlooked and unique unincorporated towns.

The work started with man-made objects and physical traces — weathered signs, storefronts, grain elevators, homes — the visible imprint of human presence within the landscape. I was drawn to these details and the layered, nuanced narratives they quietly carried.

It was also a return to my documentary roots — the kind of storytelling that first drew me to photography.

As I photographed more towns, history surfaced. Conversations followed. What began as a study of structures opened into a deeper exploration of the people and living history connected to them — strengthening my own connection to these places and the communities that remain.

Along the way, I’ve shared the work publicly on social media as it unfolds — bringing others along on the journey in real time and helping preserve these towns and their stories.

In 2025, again with support from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the project expanded to include portraits and recorded conversations when possible, while remaining rooted in the physical traces that first drew me in.

This work gives presence to towns that are often overlooked and offers space for residents to share their stories, preserving place, memory, and connection across rural Minnesota.

Some towns are nearly ghost towns. Others remain quietly active. Many exist somewhere in between.

This site features a curated selection of the 2025 photographs. Future exhibitions will focus on rural art centers and community spaces where these towns can continue to be seen, heard, and feel at home.

Thank you for taking the time to connect with these places and the stories they hold :).

–Laura Grisamore