Throughout my life, I have always had a close connection to the outdoors through different activities and places I’ve been. It provides me with an escape from whatever may cause me worries and has never failed to uplift my happiness. Something I have noticed as I have grown up is how our relationships with nature have changed as we enter an age of digital media and commercialism. The artwork in my show takes a critical look at how many natural wonders of the world have come to be so commercialized that visitors are missing the true stories told by the land before their eyes.
With styles derived from vintage travel posters, tourist t-shirts, and memories from my childhood visiting national parks, I recreated a visitor’s center gift shop. I have a variety of types of work displayed in my show including digital illustrations, screen printing and more. The main illustrations for the show are places which have special meanings to me through memories and experiences I have had. I purposefully do not display the name of the location on the posters to allow you to find your own way there. These scenes become so much more powerful when you have a deeper knowledge of them and their wonder. The titles on the illustrations are histories and facts which I had not previously known about the locations which supposedly were so important to me prior to my research for the show. I was amazed that I had been around some of these locations my whole life and I could barely tell you about their history, but I could tell you what the t-shirt in the gift shop looked like.
When experiencing the work from my show, I encourage you to think about the places which you have visited and seen, and then to think about how much you may not know about them. If you find your mind struggling to find information, I hope you feel called to research and look deeper. With greater understanding, comes greater appreciation. I create my work as appreciation for what the outdoors has given to me and to serve as a reminder to all, to go out and enjoy it.
