Enduring Spirit

This is an ongoing project that started in an off-grid housing co-operative in Manitoba in 2015. Recently my focus has been in the Columbia Basin where I have documented people living in tiny houses, yurts, reclaimed shacks, remote cabins and co-operatives built on self sustainability.
Born out of necessity historically and currently, the homesteader seeks to create sustainable autonomy out of the surrounding environment. A humble connection to the earth and a contentment with simple living are a common theme for modern homesteaders. As with historical homesteaders our contemporaries are cutting new paths to a sustainable future with a lifestyle that will lower our impact on the planet.
For me the wet plate collodion photo process is the perfect medium to explore and document this project because it is timelessly rooted in a collective era and is widely recognized as historical. It forces the viewer to see modern homesteaders in the same light as our romanticized ancestors.