Bethanie Mitchell

What is a country without its literature. What can make a writer, it is place. For W. B. Yeats, an Irish man of so many persuasions his gift of the story can only be lead by the landscape that so influenced his poetry. Silgo, Ireland's cozy landscape was Yeats retreat into the Irish man's soul. Through Sligo's hedges and light forested paths, the Spanish Armada's trail helped lead his writing to the Pacific coast, where the imagination can run wild, but for Yeats his inspiration always returned back to quaint Sligo.

It’s 2021 and the pandemic is raging. The road calls, so I take a lone journey down Highway 101 where my final stop is to be somewhere on the Oregon coast. The cursive note on my dashboard reads, don’t swim, resist! I land at Seal Rock with its haunting monolithic rock forms and spectral waves. This edge of the Pacific steals several mesmerized souls each year. Lazy seals and forced funerals of cormorant sea birds, encapsulate the eight hours of photographing and eight hours of tide changes. I hear whispers on the waves of ships lost at sea, microscopic people flow and disintegrate through a salty ingress. Ancient stories and present day beautiful tragedies wash my feet. I feel linked and close to those thousands of miles from here; another place, the coastline of a different country. I could swim here…forever. I remind myself as my tripod falls and I slip down mossy rock, never turn your back on the ocean. Seal Rock, Oregon as detailed through the both the still and moving image. Each image is from an original 35mm negative and lith printed on 20 year old expired black and white silver gelatin paper and selenium toned for unique color range and archival permanence.

Way down in the hot Mohave Desert, sparsely populated towns call Joshua Tree National Park their backyard. My sister's world is this moonscape environment. The lack of loud life is confirmed by the deadening silence found amongst dry cracked earth, thirsty trees, and a sign just down the desert highway that reads, "No services for 100 miles." While I'm in America, I relate to my sister's love of solitude and privacy. A hike of appreciation for the landscape of America and the memories of my sister's American backyard. Medium format lithographic prints on silver gelatin fiber paper. Recent additions toned in tea. Hand printed by the photographer.