This Land Is Your Land

This Land Is Your Land is a multimedia project that explores the history of the U.S. National Park system and the lands upon which they have been created. The work is an examination of recreation upon and the seizure of ancestral Indigenous lands from the perspective of a Black veteran.

In search of healing and contemplation from his time in the U.S. Air Force and a traumatizing close-call from a fellow wingman, Winters began visiting Glacier National Park in northern Montana in hopes of escape. He answered the call to the wild that many naturalists, artists, and writers have answered before him, but beyond the alluring landscapes and solitude that were promised, Winters found that the influences of imperialism and the fetishization of the American outdoors were not unlike those he encountered during his time in service.

TLIYL encourages viewers to parse through contrasting materials that paint this area of northern Montana as both intrinsically “American” and intrinsically stolen and Indigenous. Viewers are encouraged to reconcile their own ideas and emotions regarding American mysticism and the colonialism that permeates all facets of our culture, even those as remote and “untouched” as rural Montana.

Artist Bios

Isaiah Winters

Isaiah Winters’ photographic work and experimental films merge the archival or found with the contemporary to comment on nostalgia and indexicality. Through recontextualizing visual media and advertisements, he asks that viewer to acknowledge their own biases or learned truths. Popular culture and imagery are crucial to everyday understandings of the World around us. By taking this approach, Winters is able to create associations and assemblages that comment on the medium of photography. Isaiah received his BA in Sociology and MFA from Parsons School of Design in 2022. He is also an Air Force veteran with a background in linguistics and analytics. Winters has exhibited at Rotterdam Photo Festival, Parsons School of Design, Lincoln Center, Pingyao International Photo Festival and Photoville NYC. His work has also been featured in The New York Times, Google, Baltimore Magazine, Lincoln Center/SNFCC, Parks Project and BmoreArt.

Organizations

Photoville

Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.

In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.

By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.

Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.

For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com