The Sweet Promised Land
I have been missing from my home for quite some time. Mirages of it seem to materialize, but they prove only to be unfaithful vignettes. I visit often, but my experiences invariably wither into woolgathering. I have a profound longing for my home that once was, but I have trouble reconciling the truth with my memories. There is residue, but not substance. I have had two children and started a new life, and I am beginning to feel outside myself. These images serve as a materialized chimera that I hope to pass along. I find myself asking, what is more important, to offer the legacy of the land itself or the myth that surrounds it?
“it has become a dimming dream in which little things stand out and the rest is blurred, but beautifully, because it is of memory. “
Robert Laxalt, Sweet Promised Land
The Sweet promised land is an archival project pulled from many historical Appalachian photographers as well as from my own image library. The resulting combination is heavily altered digitally and then subsequently printed using platinum on 100 percent fiber rag paper to serve as a lasting record for my children. It is a poetic look at my memories and the region that is their birth right.