Portfolios

In the Badlands

The Lakota Sioux called the hills of western South Dakota, Makhosica, or
the "bad land;" the French, les mauvaises terres a traverser, "the bad lands
to cross." The Spanish were still less forgiving labeling the territory, tierra
baldia, or "waste land."

With its dry, cracked soil and sparse vegetation, the Badlands represent one
of the earth's most difficult terrains. Clay is baked into fissures, violent storms
constantly erode the landscape and strong winds blow its sand asunder. Yet
the landscape that is the Badlands, at once foreign and familiar, is also highly
sensual: slopes are sinuous, mounds undulate; clouds create shifting,
beguiling shadows.

To create these images, I join women—and all their spiritual, fertile feminine
power—with this barren, primeval land. They lay themselves bare and expose
themselves, at once remaining rooted to Mother Earth while also opening
themselves to the higher powers of the heavens.

View Portfolio