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19th Ave New York, NY 95822, USA
In Contact
by Callan Field

project STATEMENT

In Contact is a series of photographs that explores our human desire to interact with the landscape; moments that arise when we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the land that we have been removed from. Scenes move from a single salmon roe to the bloody hide of a moose, to antlers held as if life itself depended upon their touch, and finally to the immense internal organs of a moose, each image playing off the concept of leave no trace.

A fundamental principle of wilderness travel, leave no trace dictates that outdoor travellers minimize their impact on the spaces they visit. The saying goes: take only photos, leave only footprints. We can only interact with wild organisms through their found remains. These images reveal our need to look, touch, and feel the creatures that live in wild places, even if understanding them better can only occur through the fragments they leave behind.

An ongoing project, In Contact was created over multiple wilderness expeditions in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada. Shot using medium format film, the images are deliberately abstract in order to occupy the space between representation and metaphor.

In Contact is particularly relevant today as our world contemplates a future of unprecedented climate change. It is meant to ask the viewer: What is the value of touch? What does the land expect of us? Of you?

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