The floodplain belongs to the river

The Floodplain Belongs to the River is a body of work encompassing two major focuses: A series of works in handmade paper, and an edition of fine press books. This work speaks from the Midwest, and from the rural, perspective. It is a perspective invariably tied to agriculture.

The concept behind the works in paper, collectively called Edge Effect, is an assessment of the modern conventional agricultural system, which is both destructive to habitats and biodiversity, and seemingly insurmountably engrained into our society. This work explores the barriers humans impose that for many non-humans, can act like walls ―shrinking habitats, interrupting migrations, dominating resources.

The second focus of The Floodplain Belongs to the River is a set of poems, which form the text of a letterpress printed book, Field & Grove. These poems linger on the natural, yet acknowledge a proximity to human structures. The poems explore the overlap of these human and non-human places: the transitional moments of one giving way to the other, specifically, the moments of magic where nature pushes back against the monotony of industrialization, and the flourishing of tiny pockets of protected, pre-colonial landscapes.