Social Commentary on the Great Plains

A quick up and back to Cheyenne for a family-related matter, but I had some time to make a few images with which I am quite happy.

First, a pilot on his/her way to…? Or, is this a statement about the religious culture in this neck o’ the prairie? You decide. Without these skies, I don’t think the composition would have worked quite as nicely. Plus, it adds an additional element of Mother Nature, of forces out of our control, of perhaps even a sense of foreboding…

Heaven or Hell. Terry Bison Ranch, Wyoming, 2016

Second, an image that would feel quite “at home” (so to speak) in my Neo-Topographics portfolio. The road leads to a new future…a future of development, of course. The giant bison cutout on the hillside serves as a reminder of a previous phase of “development” on the Great Plains. And the flowers? Well, we seem to always go merrily, happily, gaily down the road without seriously considering the long-term consequences…

New Plans for The Plains. Terry Bison Ranch, Wyoming, 2016

Finally, a few miles to the north, I found this interesting landscape. The campaign poster is for Liz Cheney, daughter of our controversial ex-Vice-President. She is running on a conservative platform for the lone seat Wyoming has in the U.S. House of Representatives. Wyoming, the least populated state with fewer than 600,000 souls, is heavily conservative–yes, the philosophy of individualism and the lifestyle of the frontier are still quite alive here, pardner. Of course, the juxtaposition of the political poster with the smaller (and seriously humorous) ranch poster was what made the picture…

Cheney’s Wyoming. Happy Jack Road, near Cheyenne, Wyoming, 2016