A chaotic portrait of an ’80s American farming family

After realising he would never inherit the family farm, Melonie Bennett​’s father struck out on his own, purchasing a 130-acre dairy farm in Gotham, Maine, for himself, wife, and three children. Bennett, the oldest, was only seven years old at the time, and remembers ​“the pressure my parents were under – the financial strain, the exhaustion, and the sheer amount of work that comes with running a 100-head dairy farm. I felt like I had to be strong because they were stretched so thin.” 

The 1980s proved a brutal decade, giving rise to the American Farm Crisis, during which some 300,000 farmers defaulted on loans, which accelerated the collapse of small farms and the rise of industrial farming. ​“In 1980, Maine had around 1,200 farms; 10 years later, less than half remained,” Bennett says. ​“By 1986, my parents had no choice but to auction off the animals and equipment, which was devastating, but we were able to keep the house and land, which we were grateful for.“ 

Throughout her childhood, Bennett did what she could with what she had, accompanying her father in the evenings so he wasn’t alone doing chores. ​“The cows would be chewing their cuds, listening to WPOR – our country music station, which was supposed to help with milk production – and I’d be there keeping him company,” she says. ​“I tried to help my mother by watching my younger brother and sister, during chores and haying. This backfired on me because they mistook my leadership as bossing them around. My brother, age 52, still calls me ​‘Queenie’ in disgust, when he wants to annoy me.” 

• Read next: Exploring my parents’ radical, revolutionary past

For Bennett, the farm offered a world of discovery and independent thought, empowering her to craft a singular path as a photographer that began as a teenager. Under the numbing weight of stress, her family embraced humour as the antidote, infusing the most mundane moments of everyday life with comedic charm, revelling in the absurd pleasure of simply being alive.

Now Bennett invites us home for a madcap romp with a family like no other, with the new exhibition and book, Holy Cow! The book is a family album in the best sense of the world, weaving photographs with stories told by her brother, Merritt, throughout, along with rapturous captions like, ​“Nikita, our rescue dog, loved snowmobiling, boating, canoeing and riding in the back of the pick-up truck” to accompany a portrait of the fluffy white dog coyly modeling a pair of cowboy boots in front of the Christmas tree. 

Raised in chaos, Bennett and her camera became the eye of the storm, while the world around her swirled with the passion of a thousand dreams burning. Everyone loved to be in front of the camera, ever ready for their close up, and if she didn’t get the photograph, then no one else would. ​“I always loved art and drawing, but photography gave me a different kind of satisfaction – being able to show someone exactly what you saw or your interpretation of it,” she says.

• Read next: In photos: Lives of solitude at the world’s edge

“I think humour is often the doorway into a deeper look. I’ve always leaned toward laughing – though I do plenty of crying too,” Bennett continues. ​“The ridiculousness, the tenderness, the pain, the absurdity – it’s all part of the story. Humour softens the entry point so viewers can sense the harder truths underneath.” 

Melonie Bennett: Holy Cow! Is on view through October 3, 2026, at Maine Museum of Photographic Arts. The book is published by GOST Books.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

Buy your copy of Huck 83 here.

Enjoyed this article? Follow Huck on Instagram and join Club Huck’s mailing list for more from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture.