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The Project
Wilderness to Wilderness is a photography project that aims to communicate the expansiveness and wildness of Montana by visually connecting all of Montana's Wilderness Areas via a series of high resolution images in which each Wilderness Area is visible from the next. The visual connections made between Wilderness Areas is intended to inspire curiosity, cultivate respect and encourage questions from the viewer. Through the creation of a set of images in which a visual line can be drawn from the first Wilderness to the last, the viewer will be transported across Montana’s wildest lands.
The resulting images, referred to as 'headliner images', will be shown as a traveling exhibition and coffee table book in spring 2028. The capture phase of this project will take place over the next two years and will cover all Designated Wilderness Areas and a few recommended Wildernesses and Wilderness Study Areas in Montana.
The capture phase (field time) of this project is fully funded through the generous support of the Matthew Hansen Endowments' Wilderness Inspiration Fellowship grant.
Exhibition
The strength of this project lies in its output: a touring exhibition. The tour will visit communities around Montana, highlighting the extraordinary ecosystems and interconnectedness of Wilderness.
The touring exhibition will open with a portal featuring the first print of the show, ushering the viewer into a visual journey. From there, the viewer will travel Wilderness to Wilderness, visiting the next peak featured on the horizon of the image in front of them. And so on.
Book
As a coffee table book, Wilderness to Wilderness will be designed to visually communicate the experience of moving from space to space. Each Wilderness Area chapter will begin with a short essay interspersed with supplementary images, maps and important ecological factors that further illustrate the connection to the next Wilderness, concluding with the headliner image from which the next chapter’s Wilderness is visible.
Mock-up of book, coming soon.
Timeline
Below is the projected Wilderness to Wilderness timeline. The field portion of the project is expected to take place through Fall 2027 with the exhibition and book release occurring in Spring 2028. Because the project is responsive to questions of geographic Wilderness connectivity, additional trips will likely be needed to complete the visual conceit of the project: lines of sight connecting place to place from the first Designated Wilderness to the last. If, for instance, a clear line of sight cannot be obtained from the Scapegoat Wilderness to Gates of the Mountains Wilderness, an intermediate trip will need to be made to bridge the gap.
