This Place in My Hands
“When we see land as a community to which we belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect."
— Aldo Leopold, “A Sand County Almanac"
PROJECT STATEMENT
This Place in My Hands is a series of photographs exploring relationships between people and the land. I am interested in how connecting to place develops an individual’s sense of wonder, self, and belonging. The land itself is at the heart of these images, created over a year of traveling across Iowa, beginning in the winter of 2023. The people here are deep in landscape, in and of the places they inhabit. They look closely, listen for what their eyes cannot see, and discover magic in found things. They are students, teachers, biologists, naturalists, artists, writers, hunters, foragers, farmers, storytellers, and tree whisperers. They are all caretakers.
Making photographs is a way for me to hold a place, in the formal sense of composition and deciding what to hold in the frame, but also in the way that looking attentively generates intimacy. The more intimately I understand a place, the more I feel a part of the landscape. I find hope in the rhythms of the living world and the interconnectedness of all things. When I hold this place in my hands, I am guided by all who came before me. I carry rivers, trees, and grasses. I support all the creatures who breathe life into this community. When I hold this place, attentively and with care, I can feel its life buzzing, beating, and vibrating along with my own. It feels ancient and sacred and worthy of protection.
This project is supported by an Art Project Grant through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council, which exists within the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
