Small Town, Long Streets

In my work, I don’t just tell the story of the rural landscape I live in, but also of the people who inhabit it, the communities they create, and how they gather to celebrate. For this project, I documented half a dozen rural Montana festivals to showcase community members coming together. I attended Conrad’s Whoop-Up Trail Days, Fort Benton’s Summer Celebration, Fairfield’s Swim Days, Red Ants Pants Music Festival in White Sulphur Springs, and Choteau’s 4th of July Parade and Threshing Bee.

In the photographs, I look for individual stories while telling a broader one. In the process I explore the coming together of people after over two years of uncertainty due to the pandemic, but also potential antidotes to the fracturing of our society. I am searching for the better angels of our culture, the dignity and optimism I know exist out there. To find it, I embed myself in the moment, to reveal our humanity and our fellowship.

This project was supported in part by a grant from the Montana Arts Council, an agency of the State Government.