Landscape Stories
Women – Photography – Oral History – Environment
In 2017, director Kathleen M. Ryan began interviewing women photographers who specialized in documenting the environment. The stories in this project use these interviews as the basis for an interactive documentary exploring the American landscape. The oral histories are now held at Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History.
The Projects
1.5°
The earth hit a grim statistic in 2024: for the first time ever average temperatures were 1.5° Celsius higher that in pre-industrial times for a 12 month period. The changing reality of a warming planet.
365 Days
A year looking and listening to the land, demonstrating how the environment speaks via its own form of oral history. Beginning Autumn Equinox, 2024.
The Colorado River
The Colorado River Compact allocated water for states in the river’s watershed. Director Wen Lei looks at the impacts of the water distribution strategies on one of the longest rivers in North America. Funded in part by the Mission Zero grant.
Fracking/Futures
Funded in part by the National Association of Broadcasters Pilot Innovation program, Fracking/Futures looks at the impacts of oil and natural gas extraction as well as alternative energy sources on the land.
Manifest Legacy
The myth of “unspoiled” land and the legacy of colonialism, slavery, and conquest from sea to shining sea on the landscape of the North American continent.
The Nuclear Industrial Complex
In 1945, the United States tested the first atomic weapon south of Los Alamos, New Mexico. The legacy on lands and peoples across the West of the testing program is profound.
The Wild
Wallace Steger called the National Park system “America’s best idea.” Between parks, monuments, and other public land, the system protects a network of landscapes stretching across the nation.
A Woman’s Place
Historically the story of the land is told through the photographs of men. But women past and present seek inspiration from an equally dangerous space closer to home: the garden.