Where the Buffalo Roam
2026-Present
This ongoing body of work takes its name from lyrics in the American folk song, "Home on the Range," written in the early 1870s by Dr. Brewster M. Higley with the music composed by Daniel E. Kelley.
The song, inspired by Higley's acquisition of land in Kansas under the Homestead Act, has become one of the country's most recognized songs. It is often taught to young children, is the state song of Kansas, and is generally seen as an innocuous piece of Americana.
In these works, I am subversively leaning into this idyllic understanding to depict our contemporary socio-political environment. While these pieces are digital collages, I am working in a process that is similar to my analog collages. The works are intentionally fragmented, often utilizing a loose grid system as an organizing principle. The goal is to mimic the way we receive information presently and to visually articulate how culture wars have been weaponized to make us ignore the realities of late-stage capitalism.
