Whilst doing research for my project I came across this great little piece of work still in progress by Kyle Ford. The project is about an area of land in northern New York that has been governmentally sanctioned as ‘Forever Wild’. This means that the land enjoys the highest level of protection of wild land of any state.
‘Forever Wild’ is such an interesting phrase to me. It sounds so optimistic but is ultimately misleading. Through the tiny bit of research that I did before writing this (a 2 minute Google search) it is clear that this was never the intention, at least in the purist sense. Over the years it has been used more and more to attract tourism and recreation.
Through Ford’s work, It becomes clear that much of the beauty of the area remains (and he celebrates this) but over the years it has begun to be tamed by man to the point where I don’t believe it could be called ‘wild’ ever again.
I feel like the work has been constructed with real concern for the area. It simultaneously enables me to appreciate the landscape as it is now whilst also raising doubts about its future. I can’t help but wonder what will be left untamed in 10, 20 or 50 years’ time, and I feel that this makes it a real triumph. I look forward to seeing the work completed.
All photographs by Kyle Ford.
Some lovely images here. Gives me a feeling somewhere between wanting to get my Karouac on and being scared of little closed communities. In reality, thinking about NY as a state it probably isn't that way at all! Nice words though mate
ReplyDelete