“The Land Our Fathers Gave Us” is a journey of observations that have defined American Landscape in the last century. Yes, we are on a road trip, yes, we camp in National Parks, yes, we stop at scenic overlooks, we are adamantly following the path made over one hundred years ago by our fathers and their fathers before them. On this journey we have stood where countless others have been before, and have yet to be. Our photographs do not reveal new truths; they cement existing traditions of how we distinguish ourselves from the visual barrage of modernity. When we arrive at these parks and places we are greeted with the façade of grandeur, we grasp at preconceived experiences and react to nature in an unreasonably controlled environment. We follow the marked paths, which in turn follow us through the visual familiarity of having been there before. These places are not encounters of the new, but rather landscapes that hold personal histories of deep traditions spanning generations.
As time passes and modernity evolves, our definition of the wilderness and the landscape has been altered. From western expansion to western movies our relationship to the land has always remained romantic, so deeply romantic that we often use it to justify our culture. We as a nation have preserved these monuments but in doing so we have created boundaries where none existed before, we have created signs that define where beauty lies, thus telling us what to feel before we have even arrived. The true wild does not accept us into open arms, we are met with unconditional silence, we must reflect within ourselves the journey that has brought us to this point and time.
Our fathers for generations have come to these lands in search of a better future, not for themselves, but for the ones who come after. Now, we follow in their footsteps, we stand on the edge of the void where no questions are answered, the only fact that remains is that another body has stood there before. We feel their presence and we struggle with the emotions of dreams unrevealed. The land embodies limitless potential that millions have gazed out upon, yet when we turn our backs it becomes trivial. Why do we seek out the discovered? We secretly hope that we will find pieces that were missed, discarded or forgotten. People yearn to be included in greatness, the validation inspires the child inside of all. It becomes a connection so visceral, so powerful we cannot avoid it, even if we wanted to.
Our journey takes us across plains, over canyons and through mountains. We meet new and interesting people along the way and are constantly inspired by their stories and enthusiasm for the land we share. For all of the inspiration in the landscape there is equal disappointment, the land presents just as much as it conceals. We will never see the buffalo roam the Great Plains, we will never see the Rio Grande reach the Gulf of Mexico, never the less this will always be The Land Our Fathers Gave Us.
– Joe Glasco & JR Doty
Joseph and JR are traversing America on a year-long photo expedition armed with a Phase One medium format camera, a ten foot camper and a vision to capture parts of the less travelled American urban and rural wilderness.
