< Exhibition
Trent davis bailey
Scott's Math, Paonia, Colorado, 2017
Archival Pigment Print
32” x 40”
This photograph comes from my series, The North Fork, which takes its form from several threads of my childhood memories — including a rift between my father and an uncle and the premature death of my mother — and suggests how those remembrances tie into small-scale family farms and wilderness in the rural Mountain West. Photography, here, becomes a tool for piecing together a map of my own complicated personal terrain, mending and rerouting notions of place and family.
This image, “Scott’s Math, Paonia, Colorado, 2017” brings to mind many questions: Who is it that penned these equations, lists, and love notes? Why are they written in ink on a peeling calendar and a panel of wood? How old is this weathered barn and how much longer will it stand? Given the economics imaged here, how possible to make a living on a small-scale farm in the 21st century? And finally, what is it that sustains life in this place, in this state, and in this country?
Carrots, Paonia, Colorado, 2015
Archival Pigment Print
32” x 40”
My first indelible memory of the North Fork was a lunch that my Aunt Chrys prepared for my family and me when I was about seven years old. I looked at the colorful servings of food that she placed on the table, most of which were vegetables grown in her garden. Having only experience grocery aisle food before this, I was so intrigued. There were so many strangely beautiful foods that I had never seen before—purple potatoes, snow peas, yellow and green heirloom tomatoes, and multicolored kimchi in a glass jar. The only things that I recognized were store-bought rice, corn, and tortillas, which seemed only distantly related to the homegrown food on the table. In a related manner, this image, “Carrots, Paonia, Colorado, 2015” brings to mind the magic sustenance of that memory. On the other hand, it is also evidence of one farmer’s solution for growing and providing fresh food for himself and his community during midwinter in the mountains of Colorado.