Title: Photography and Writing: Tools for Conservation

Dates Shown: October 20, 2014 through January 30, 2015

Location: Loyal Jones Appalachian Center Longwall Gallery

Description: This exhibit showcased the creative work produced during the Summer 1, 2014 course ENG/TAD 266 Photography and Writing: Tools for Conservation. Over the span of two weeks, participants explored the southwest landscape of deserts, mountains, and canyons through photography and creative writing, traveling to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Arches National Park in Utah. Local fieldwork included trips to Indian Fort, Anglin Falls, and Owsley Fork Reservoir.

Since the Civil War, conservationists have helped shape public opinion and federal laws with a unique and powerful tool – the photograph. In today’s world, conservation organizations such as the Sierra Club, Audubon Society and Greenpeace continue to save species and preserve wild places by arousing the public with powerful visual images reproduced in wall calendars and large format books. Pairing these images with words – poems, essays, or articles on scientific, historical, aesthetic, or spiritual dimensions of nature – has been another important means of preserving the earth.

This course was designed for students interested in photographing and preserving our natural environment. Photographic instruction was centered on camera use, composition, and printmaking through Photoshop and digital story-telling. Students also read a variety of nature writings and experimented with different forms of nature writing related to their photographic images. Classroom sessions included philosophical discussions of the viability of using photography, alone or with writing, to lobby Congress and increase public awareness of conservation issues. Stewardship of the earth’s resources and the role of nature in spiritual and artistic development were central themes throughout the course.

A reception and presentation of the exhibit took place Monday October 20, 5 – 6:30 p.m.

Curators:

Instructors Dr. Libby Jones and Dr. Alan Mills, and students Taylor Ashworth, Atiba Bailey, Nicholas Farr, Ricky Foley, Chloe Forsting, Sara Gallimore, Oksana Grishchuk, Emily Isaacs, Austin Johnson, Tabitha Potter-Cornett, Christine Rider, Anna Joines Skaggs, Kathleen G. Tempesta, Tenzin Tsundu, and Marty Wayland.