Robert Perkins, born in Boston and classically educated at Milton Academy and Harvard University (AB 1974), received an MFA from the Graduate Program at Bennington College in 2004. His true education began on Bowditch Hall, the men’s locked ward at McLean Hospital in Belmont MA. (See Humpty Dumpty River Essay). Although it did not initially appear so, the trauma of this experience was the key to a more authentic life.

For twenty three years Perkins produced independent films for PBS and Channel 4 in England. He traveled to wild and remote corners of the world. He combines observation with reflection, creating a quirky and insightful body of work that caused one critic to call him the Lou Reed of documentary film. His touchstone is The Great Fish River, northeast of Yellowknife in the Canadian Arctic. He knows this watershed, its tributaries, wildlife, and its stories. The Great Fish flows unimpeded for 560 miles to the arctic coast, the only large arctic river completely inside the tundra.

In college, Perkins began collaborating with poets using their handwritten poems, or fragments, to create visual equivalents. This combination of word and image created the on-going project called The Written Image. In all his work, intimacy is key. The poet’s handwriting, along with their words, creates a self-portrait of the poet. Perkins’ collaborations escort poems from between book covers into the visual world. He has worked with over forty poets, including three Nobel Laureates, Octavio Paz, Seamus Heaney, and Louise Gluck. This cross-section of great wordsmiths starts with those writing in the mid-20th century and will continue through the beginning decades of the 21st.

Perkins follows the tenets of Social Practice, a movement where the edges of what is considered ‘art’ remain constantly in flux. His combination of images, whether in film or on canvas, his storytelling, and his commitment to community building find expression through his ability to create unexpected beauty in unlikely places.