To Reconcile Origin

Is it possible that a person’s core being is indigenous to a certain natural environment? Can this be true to the extent that the unfamiliarity of a new environment can cause suffering, even when the human made, social surroundings are desirable?

To what extent do we taint our view of new environments with false overlays in order to protect our concept of self and origin? How do we reconcile this origin with our new environment? As time passes, can natural elements that originally felt odd and foreign slowly become the same elements that comfort and create attachment? Does this process necessarily cause a redefining of self?

These are the questions that have inspired this series. I grew up in Michigan on the Great Lakes and lived on the northern shore of Wisconsin for 10 years. I continue a long distance love affair with Lake Superior. As a person who prefers to spend a great deal of time outdoors, I have struggled with my sense of place in the beautiful but foreign natural environment of North Carolina. While the human made elements of this environment feel right, the strangeness of the plants, the temperatures, the lack of large bodies of water and snow, have all had an impact on my state of being. This series reflects various stages of clinging and rejection, searching and acceptance.