The Hunt

2001-2006

In the naked presence of death, I truly feel alive.
There, man’s relationship with nature revealed itself.
In the silence of myself, I learned to conform to Nature’s way.
She taught me that I had been accepting the cycle of rebirth.
I recognized the glow of the animals, and in this glow, I saw a rainbow.
On the hunt, I learned the brave jump, into the blinding water, is only made alone.

Through this work I came to see a new simplicity within the complexity of life. Far from the city, out on The Hunt, people and animals engage in a primal match that is both brutal and beautiful.

Initially my attraction stemmed from the sense of calm that surrounds the hunters. Through this peace and quiet of mind, they seemed to listen to the land and communicate with the animals. They saw things that I could not. Marks on a tree that I thought were just bark were actually signs of animal life. The woods and nature spoke to them. It was a language I could not hear. I stood in awe of their abilities and grew curious about the animals and their relationships with nature and man. The way the animals searched for food and called their mates fascinated me. In the animals, I saw a balance and clarity that I had not seen elsewhere. They possessed the wisdom to live for the moment and seek only what they needed.

The death brought by man to animals reveals our lives to be one small, yet important link in an ongoing cycle of life and death. Nature, animal and man are all intertwined components of a larger force. For me, this was realized through The Hunt.

The Hunt reveals a world mostly hidden in an urban society increasingly divorced from its rural roots. While hunting in contemporary North America has lost its formative purpose – the search for sustenance -it is much more than merely a game. Hunting is a natural thread that connects us with our own roots, with who we once were, and with what it once meant to be human. These truths are often lost in the urban jungle. Far away from the city, hunters and animals engage in ancient dance that is part of a larger journey.