Sandia National Historic Park, NM, July 2017

Rio Grande Wild Rivers National Park, NM, June 2017

San Francisco de Assis, US National Historic Landmark, NM, June 2017

Chaco Canyon National Park, NM, June 2017

A Nice Square Shape

These black-and-white film photographs investigate the false dichotomy between the natural and unnatural in national historic sites in New Mexico. They explore a more complicated relationship in which the man-made and the natural often echo each other: a pair of bushes seem like a huddled couple; a lone tree in a broad plain appears intentionally planted, landscaped. Placing the viewer within the landscape, my pictures show the interbeing of the places we construct and what is already there.

This work was produced during the summer of 2017 throughout New Mexico, with funding by the Ildiko Butler Photography Grant and the Fordham University Undergraduate Research Grant. All the photographs are unique archival silver gelatin fiber prints, from 35mm black and white film.

Erin O’Flynn