It sometimes feels as though my life spins on an axis around the concept of nature. Stemming from my already rural upbringing in Pennsylvania and truly deepened by the fact that I now live in the Big Horn Mountain region of Wyoming, my work latches onto the importance of the setting as its own entity, rather than simply grounding location.  

I grow increasingly interested in the ways that art, particularly landscape photography, can both encapsulate and complicate notions of place and explore identity: I firmly believe that we are at once a part and product of where we have started from and where we will go, as I’ve found evidenced in my own experiences. 

This photographic series titled Space/ /Place was created by overlapping two separate photographs, sometimes overlaying a negative photographic over a positive one or adjusting the transparency of one photographic so that another can show through. This series reflects my own struggles with capturing specific landscapes and places and thus the combination of several images into one final image better allows me to transport the viewer into my own personal interpretation of a particular place. 

Through these photographic overlays, the environments that I depict allow for a moment of pause and escapism that captures a shimmering moment in space, rather than relying on precisely accurate descriptions. I wish to hold onto the fleeting moments of seeing the dust settle at sunset or the Pleiades bursting into life or the orange glow of a forest fire in August. 

Truly, this project is a reflection of the lasting impact natural spaces can hold upon the human mind while also a reminder of the importance of preserving the environment while we are still able to.