Hunting Grounds / 2002
Natuur in de USA – natuur in Europa
Over a period of 5 years I made several journeys in the North West and we lived twice in Seattle for longer periods. Hunting Grounds was the storyline of the project, inspired by the Notebooks of Myron Eels. He started those in 1875 while he was a missionary among the native Americans of Puget Sound. Hunting Grounds was a search for the material culture Eels described, and by that this research is a sincere look into the -dynamic- relation between nature and culture, with man as a necessary and problematic pivot. Participant and outsider. Concerned party and critic at the same time. Hunting Grounds was a website and open for discussion while the digital collection of texts and images grew into a ‘landscape’ in which a traveler can feel lost. Many people contributed, it was a big adventure.
Related works are Grid-Lock, Salmon Run, and a series of 1 minute films (Miniatures) which were accessible in direct combination with Hunting Grounds. But also artist books like Naches Yakima, Alert, Deer Park, High Noon, Identification, Geyser and IMAGES.