Listening to the Land: Reimagining the Bartram Trail
Listening to the Land is a visual exploration of the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail that invites photographers of all levels to join us in creating a photography exhibition and archive that celebrates the trail's rich biodiversity while honoring each person’s unique and unfolding relationship with the land. This 110-mile memorial trail follows a route as close as possible to William Bartram’s original route through northeast Georgia and western North Carolina.
Drawing inspiration from Bartram’s Travels and the enduring wisdom of land-based and indigenous peoples of this region, photographers are invited to enter an intimate world where the landscape is alive and waiting to be met, understood, and listened to. Together we will contemplate our own wild origins and visually re-imagine a time when humans moved in respect, harmony, and sensuous communication with the natural world.
What does it mean to listen to the land?
Your answer to this question will define the photographs you make and the voice you bring to this collaboration. When indigenous teachers speak of ‘honorable harvest’ and asking the land’s permission, does that refer to an expectation for a directly communicated response? Perhaps, or maybe it’s an essential practice that asks us to notice and take account of the life that surrounds us and the web of relationships and intentions to consider alongside our own. Much like an honorable harvest, the Listening to the Land project invites you to use photography as a tool to unlock deeper understandings by attuning your senses to the varied voices of the land and your unique relationship with it.
How it works:
Interested photographers are invited to take photographs on the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail starting January 2023 - June 30th, 2023. We recommend choosing a place along the trail that can be photographed and engaged with over time–but that is not a requirement. Each photographer is welcome to work in whatever way deepens their capacity for listening, seeing, and responding.
To support us on our journey and to facilitate community-wide conversations, the Kinship Photography Collective will offer resources, workshops, photo walks, and, most importantly, a twice-a-month practice group to support you in your photography practice.
Participants will be offered the opportunity to submit their photographs for a juried online archive and a community exhibition at The Bascom, in Highlands, NC, in Fall 2023.
The deadline for submissions is July 1st, 2023.
Let’s Take the Journey Together
Workshops
Nature Walks
