Scattered Feathers

(2017- )

The ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird widely considered to be extinct, has become an iconic bird, particularly among bird watchers, and is emblematic of so many of the problems that have plagued the South. Scattered Feathers is a work that explores the connections between the ivory-billed woodpecker, its habitat and the communities that surround these areas where the bird was spotted in the early part of this century. Bird watching and recurrent patterns play a large part in this work and the resultant photographs track a kind of spiritual journey from the forests of Louisiana and the laboratories of LSU and Cornell to the heart of the town of Tallulah, where the innocent, small-town mentality of years gone by is an endangered thing in and of itself.

This story started with an existential dread in me that became more and more pronounced as environmental concerns across the world grew exponentially in recent years. After reading Tim Gallagher’s The Grail Bird, I became intrigued with the plight of the ivory-billed woodpecker and how this story mirrored so many of our current ecological problems. The town of Tallulah, LA,  ground zero for the deforestation that destroyed the bird’s habitat, fascinated me equally. I decided to embark on a photographic exploration that would tie together my interests in the bird, its environment and the area of Tallulah.

In the final analysis, Scattered Feathers shouldn’t be read as a record of what literally happened to the ivory-billed woodpecker, or what will become of the species in the future. Chances are good that we may never see the bird again, even if it does still survive. And that’s the point. If this species does still exist, it will continue to do so only because we are unable to see it, unable to intervene in its future. This work should instead be considered as my evidence, my findings in a search for meaning where there is very little. What I found in this search is compassion and a history that still lives and breathes in conjunction with my own personal memories. I rediscovered the mythology of a South that was buried in my own past and could only emerge when I confronted the pains that we as Southerners have endured.

Read my MFA thesis here: Scattered Feathers