Congratulations, you own 640 million acres of prairies, mountains, deserts, plains, rivers, and lakes. You might be thinking: I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t even own a home let alone land. But that’s where you are wrong. If you live in the United States, you and everyone in the country owns this land. You are a public land owner. So, own it.
Throughout the United States and particularly the West, public lands make up a large portion of land area and are a vital, reusable, renewable resource that anyone can use. This body of work provides a visual representation of public land users. I’m looking at different user groups representing different activities, ages, genders, and geographic locations. My goal for this work is to make a visual impact on the public’s perspective of how these lands are use, and the people who use them.
All of these public land users have one thing in common: a sense of responsibility for the land, for the benefit of current and future generations. This sense of responsibility creates a broad community I’m tapping into with this project. Including the hashtag "I own it" in this photo campaign indicates that the person using this hashtag on social media fully recognizes and embraces the responsibilities that come with these lands. Additionally, instead of strictly using more traditional ways to publicize my work, I am using Instagram to broadcast this project out to a much larger audience than traditional distribution permits.
Margaret Hamilton, Master of Arts Thesis 2018