Beautiful Banquet Photograph

My photographic process is entirely dependent upon connection to place. Each interconnected ecological system lies at the threshold of another system and every place is sacred space. Working with the spirits of these places is an attempt to share their interconnectedness as reflections of identity, embodiments of culture, and keepers of stories in human and nonhuman realms. Connecting with each landscape creates a new call to embrace the complexities of creating ethical art through creative inquiry; negotiating a desire to explore the spirit of the world in which we interact, and creating memories in light to share the fluid moments of connection to the non-human. Portraiture and documentary art risk interpretation as colonial traditions of exoticizing, fetishisizing, and objectifying that which is considered “other,” so looking for moments of unspoken connection requires stepping out of a purely anthropocentric perspective. How does one depict the self-told stories of beings outside the anthropocentric realm? If a spirit of “the other crowd” or “the good folk” might be found in any shape, how does one show that spirit and what responsibilities does one have in sharing that story? When we can evoke empathy and connection outside our human experience, we can create new ways of sharing the world we inhabit. —aunde