Monarch Reserves

2016

I come from a farm in southwestern Minnesota. Like many who grew up in the rural Midwest as children in the 80s’ and early 90’s, summer days were spent with a butterfly net in hand, trying to catch monarchs. Those days now seem dreamlike- a time when these delicate creatures floated through the humid air and life seemed pretty simple.   Now, everyday we hear stories of climate change, weather impacts, pollinators declining and monarch on the brink of extinction.  

These photographs were all captured at the Monarch Butterfly Reserves in Mexico. Like much of my work these photographs are not aimed at capturing an exact representation of the place. They have been printed using historic processes to give the prints the quality of a historic representation. I like to think of my photographs as creating a reality that exists somewhere between experience and memory.