Luminosity
Detail, water ecology at river’s edge.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
June 2019.
Field Recording #7: A wake
River contemplation on what we create with a gentle path forward; reflection on what one leaves behind.
Filmed on the Upper Mississippi River, Stoddard, Wisconsin.
June 2019.
Tendrel
Light with dense sedge grass at river’s edge.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
August 30, 2019.
Nestling
Sedge grass on the Mississippi River current.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
July 21, 2015
Autumn Lotus
Upper Mississippi River.
South of Goose Island,
LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
November 2, 2013
Equanimity
Detail of fallen Birch Tree.
Allamakee County, Iowa.
June 28, 2013.
Bardo i
Detail, weathered tree with river.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
June 2019.
Found remnants of hair from a deer carcass near the riverbank.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
December 10, 2015.
Reflection on impermanence
Detail, skull of young deer.
Found bankside of the Mississippi River, South of LaCrosse. November 17, 2013.
Impermanence ii
Deer carcass in a field.
Upper Mississippi River.
Near Genoa, Wisconsin.
April 5, 2015
Ambit
Twigs and tree marked by beaver teeth.
Myrick-Hixon EcoPark, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
May 18, 2014
Duckweed & Watermeal with Mississippi Current
Species Duckweed (Spirodela Polyrhiza & Lemna Minor) and Watermeal (Wolffia Columbiana) on water surface of the Mississippi River, showing movement of the current. Ferryville, Wisconsin. October 7, 2013
Wind fallen nest, beneath colony of pines.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
December 7, 2016.
home
Nest of Dark-eyed Junco.
Vernon County, Wisconsin.
April 2014.
Winter Nest.
December 10, 2013. East side of the Mississippi River, near Genoa, Wisconsin.
"...when we examine a nest, we place ourselves at the origin of confidence in the world, we receive a beginning of confidence, an urge toward cosmic confidence. Would a bird build its nest if it did not have its instinct for confidence in the world?"
~Gaston Bachelard,
from The Poetics of Space: The Classic Look at How We Experience Intimate Places
Same-not-same
Old nest still new.
Nest of Red-winged Blackbird (2nd in the series).
Along the Mississippi River, near Stoddard, Wisconsin.
March 2014.
Repose, with light
Great Blue Heron standing in still waters in the Mississippi River.
Myrick-Hixon EcoPark, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
July 8, 2014
Self-reliance
Great blue heron, standing amidst the lush green ecology of the Mississippi River.
Goose Island Park.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
August 20, 2014.
Bardo ii
Detail, micro environment at river’s edge.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
August 30, 2019.
Ambit
Detail, basal scar on riverbank tree.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
December 8, 2016.
Intention
Lotus growing skyward.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
July 26, 2017
Resilience & Grief.
Highway 56, Vernon County, Wisconsin.
November 17, 2013.
Repose.
Highway 56, Vernon County, Wisconsin.
November 17, 2013.
Repose
Two Tundra Swans, feeding.
Mississippi River,
Brownsville, Minnesota.
November 23, 2013.
Act of Love
Vegetation (including Duckweed & Watermeal), with light.
Upper Mississippi River, Myrick-Hixon EcoPark.
La Crosse, Wisconsin.
April 5, 2014
Progress
Jumble of lotus and lily pads.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
July 26, 2017
Wind fallen wasps' nest, beneath a colony of pines.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
December 7, 2016
Winter Spent
Sunflower head on pavement.
Myrick Hixon EcoPark, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
March 2014.
Love, pervasive
“I’d like to think the moon is there
even if I am not looking at it” ~Albert Einstein
Full “Honey Moon.”
Carter Mountain, Vernon County, Wisconsin.
June 13, 2014
Mandala 2
Hay Mandala.
April 15, 2013
Earth
Turtle embarking at Mississippi River bank.
Ferryville, Wisconsin.
July 8, 2013
Home
Sunset over the Mississippi River.
Upper Mississippi River.
Stoddard, Wisconsin.
June, 2014.
Emerging
Light on the thawing Mississippi River.
Near Stoddard, Wisconsin.
March 2014.
Still
Ice of the Mississippi River.
Ferryville, Wisconsin.
January, 2013
Caught in the Current
Fish in river ice.
Upper Mississippi River.
Ferryville, Wisconsin.
January, 2013
Otherwise i
“Things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise.” ~Buddha
In the first winter of my time with the Mississippi I was enchanted by bubble formations just beneath the ice surface.
I took a series of photographs enjoying their fairy-like quality. Months later, through research, an article in National Geographic, and a story on NPR I learned that the bubbles are methane gas trapped in the ice. With knowledge and acceptance, what once seemed beautiful and mesmerizing is transformed into a larger query.
January 26, 2013
Otherwise ii
“Things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise.” ~Buddha
In the first winter of my time with the Mississippi I was enchanted by bubble formations just beneath the ice surface.
I took a series of photographs enjoying their fairy-like quality. Months later, through research, an article in National Geographic, and a story on NPR I learned that the bubbles are methane gas trapped in the ice. With knowledge and acceptance, what once seemed beautiful and mesmerizing is transformed into a larger query.
January 26, 2013
watershed | photography
Home: Portraits of the Mississippi River
Within my work, the Mississippi River is a profound symbol of community.
The Mississippi River runs 2,340 miles from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It borders and/or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Its watershed, with its many tributaries, connects to 31 US states and 2 Canadian provinces. It ranks as the fourth longest river, and the tenth largest river in the world. Its name harkens from the Ojibwe or Algonquin name for the river, Misi-ziibi, which simply means "Great River." Because of all the life she connects and supports, north to south, I envision her as a Mother of Inter-dependent connection. She is a massive community, a giver and sustainer of life. She is a generous home to so much life.
I have long explored the theme of “Home” in my work, but in recent years this theme became more poignant & curious. I began to explore deeper levels of what it is to feel a home and learned how it expands far beyond the reaches of four walls and a roof. Home is a state of mindful awareness, of being comfortable and fearless no matter where one resides; it is a feeling of being meaningfully connected to a generous and humble “community.” For me, The Mississippi Flyway is that community.
I offer this collection of images with hopes that the viewer might explore what community means at both a microcosmic and macrocosmic level; that one might connect with the larger world and expand his/her sense of "home.”
* * *
Love means to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills—
A bird and tree say to him: Friend.
Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness,
It doesn't matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn't always understand.
~Czeslaw Milosz
***
This collection of photographs is an excerpt of a larger collection designed as a traveling exhibit to educate on issues relative to Land Ethics, Interdependence, and the health of the Mississippi River. If you would like to arrange for this exhibit at your own venue, please contact Kirstin here.