What does it mean for a place to be felt or experienced as “wild” in contemporary times? This is the central question at the heart of Still-Wilds, a collaborative project that pairs photographs and essays made in response to four protected areas in Northeast Florida: the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, the Guana River Wildlife Management Area, Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, and the Webb Coastal Research Station.

 

Visual art and creative writing fill an imagination and communication gap that often exists between empirical science and the general public. As a professional artist and a professional writer, Kally Malcom-Bjorklund and Jennie Ziegler offer a unique form of conservation advocacy that sparks inspiration through creative celebration--and communication--of our shrinking wild places. Ultimately, Still-Wilds investigates, researches, and documents the landscape of the First Coast, adding to our regional narrative at a time when climate change and city development continue to change the shape and scope of our wild places in Northeast Florida.

​

Project Elements:

The artworks explore three lines of inquiry that include a series of cyanotype prints tilted Sown that features images of observed plant specimens, a series of color photographs titled Still Water that examines the interplay of flora and shallow water, and a series of black and white photographs title Habitat that explores these places and their use through charged compositions. Lyric essays and flash pieces give voice to the photographic works, and the photographs, in turn, illustrate the writing.