Photographer shows diverse face(s) of Mankato with collage of 800 portraits

Josh Madson turned to look at the next person in line inside the packed cafe in Mankato, taking a moment to size up the next subject he'd photograph.

"Did you get in line for this?!" he asked Michelle Vikre. "Oh, perfect! I've been waiting for you!"

Vikre had never met Madson before. Yet she felt that was perfect for the kind of project Madson is spearheading — a portrait collage of hundreds of Mankato residents, many of them strangers coming together to showcase the city.

"It's a real eclectic community," she said. "There's something always going on, and if you're bored, it's your own fault."

Dubbed the Mankato Community Collage, Madson envisions a touring display that reflects the city he's come to call home — sort of a "Where's Waldo?" of Mankato where everyone is Waldo.

With more than 800 residents photographed over a few weeks earlier this year, the floor-to-ceiling collage exhibition opens Sept. 1 at the Coffee Hag.

"We're hoping this will draw people from all over to come and see," Madson said.

Madson is a commercial photographer who spent almost two decades in Los Angeles working with brands such as L'Oreal, Nike, Target and Goop. He moved to Mankato in September 2021 to be closer to family.

He wasn't too sure about the move at first — Mankato seemed out of the way compared to his previous home in White Bear Lake, and Madson spent a few years previous bouncing from Los Angeles to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and Washington, D.C.

Yet he fell in love with a community that, in his words, embraces creativity and connection.

"Even when I was in L.A., I could work remotely on most stuff and then just fly in when I needed to for jobs," Madson said. "I kind of have a similar approach here. I don't have any plan for leaving."

Madson got the idea to showcase the community in the spring after talking with a local coffee shop owner. He reached out to community nonprofits, interfaith groups and artistic circles to get as many people from different backgrounds as possible to come together.

"I think commercially, doing a random portrait show doesn't sound that exciting," he said. "But it does sound really fun to have a big event, integrate and make some friends."

The community supports Madson's vision. He took more than 400 portraits over a weekend inside the Coffee Hag in early June, while appointments for another shoot on June 25 inside the No. 4 restaurant filled up within a half-hour after residents saw Madson's work on social media.

Open to the idea

The project follows similar artistic attempts to highlight the area. Mankato holds a yearly walking sculpture tour that ends with governments and businesses purchasing the most intriguing pieces to display elsewhere — which is how North Mankato ended up with a Godzilla statue near the city's main entrance on Hwy. 169.

A few years ago, local organizations sponsored a massive art project on silos at Ardent Mills, also just off Hwy. 169. The work depicts children from photographs taken at the annual Mahkato Wacipi, or Mankato Pow Wow. The event honors the 38 Dakota people hanged there in 1862 after a short but brutal uprising against the U.S. government.

At the time, the project inspired conversations — positive and negative — throughout the area as Australian artist Guido van Helten spent months working on the sides of the silos.

Organizers supporting Madson's work say his collage could be just as influential, especially if he continues with plans to regularly update the portraits.

"This will be the largest archive of what the people in our community are like at this point in time," said Ryan Vesey, an economic development specialist at Greater Mankato Growth, the city's de facto chamber of commerce.

Residents flocked to the Coffee Hag, normally a low-key brick space covered in paintings and other art, during Madson's first day of shooting on June 10. The space transformed into a clublike atmosphere with black curtains blocking much of the view, and a team of people ushering residents through a line as DJs pumped out Madonna and bubble pop music. Subjects could pick out a picture or three for their own use.

Sarah Robertson usually hangs out at the Coffee Hag with her pet shih tzu, and said she couldn't resist getting her picture taken after seeing the setup.

"I just thought, 'Wow, that Josh must be skilled,'" she said.

Megan Torner, an incoming senior at Bethany Lutheran College, said she was excited to have a professional headshot taken. Ginger Neilon, a local jeweler, was amazed by how Madson made her earrings practically glow like neon lights in one of her pictures.

"Josh's personality just convinces you," she said. "To just have him hit my jewelry like that was just perfect."

Madson's work will stay at the Coffee Hag throughout September. He hopes the exhibition will be displayed around town as a reminder of how diverse Mankato has become.

"It's a scene people want to be a part of," Madson said. "I just hope this will bridge a gap and make a lot more understanding between all sorts of people here."

What: Mankato Community Collage exhibition opening.
When: 6-9 p.m. Sept. 1. (The exhibit will be at the Coffee Hag throughout September.)
Where: Coffee Hag, 329 N. Riverfront Drive, Mankato.