
My mind was transformed in a chicken coup while photographing a variety of birds. I was focused on the faces but it was the feathers that ignited my imagination while sitting quietly among them for hours. Looking at my creation, I can’t help but to think of the land that I was born and raised on. I’ve always felt fortunate to have grown up on a farm that was built on a Native American reservation over a hundred years ago. As a child, a Native American elder would come into our classrooms teaching us the history of their ancestors through folklores, ancient artifacts, songs, and native dances. This time deeply impacted the rest of my life in a positive way by opening up my quest for knowledge. We can only evolve and learn from the past through education, celebration, and the understanding of events that took place by those that have walked this earth before us.