In Our Nature
Exploring the stories embodied in the Midwest landscape and what may be found by looking more closely.
PROJECT STATEMENT
I grew up around the American Midwest, a largely horizontal region defined by agriculture and a proclivity for potlucks. At my first chance in adulthood, I left, believing I would never come back. When I did return, in a different stage of life, my eyes opened to the subtle beauty of this place that I had previously been unable to truly see. I took new interest in its flatness, folds, and fields and the powerful forces that created this land between two great rivers. I found deep connections between spirit and place. I realized that the spirit of a place accumulates where past and present converge, that everything that has happened here remains here, like stories in the soil.
My photographic series, In Our Nature, explores the stories embodied in the Midwest landscape and what may be found by looking more closely. I am intimately connected to this landscape. I am tied to it by personal history and memory, but this place, like all places, holds a record rich in our collective history. As I approach this place with wonder, I discover that my experience here intersects with all that came before me and it affirms my relationship with this place I call home.
All of my photographs are created with film and old manual cameras. This practice requires chemical development in a darkroom before one can see a physical image. I make all of my gelatin silver prints through this magical process using light-sensitive materials, red safelights, and chemical potions, where images that were once invisible become visible.
