MEGAN BERNER

This series mimics the historical images and charted paths made during the early years of exploration. Drawing from various historical—Lewis and Clark, Roald Amundsen, Captain James Cook—and fictional accounts, these photographs and maps touch on various aspects of the ideas of exploration, claiming of territory, structures of power, and the veracity of History, as well as ideas of fantasy, imagination, and daydreams.

I am particularly interested in how we define ourselves and the rest of the world based on our environments—where we are from and the places we interact with.

This series of flags represents and is symbolic of my personal environment. The flags are photographed in places that I have explored or 'discovered,' marking them as part of my territory (the places have personal significance). The idea is to mimic the claiming of spaces that went on during early years of exploration—for example in the Arctic or the image of U.S. astronauts planting the American flag on the moon.

The concept of claiming land is interesting to me and, through this project, I am exploring the ways we interact with the land—how we form relationships with it and how those connections influence our interpretation of the world around us.

All of us have different places that we can claim to be our own because of our unique experiences there. The idea of place becomes much more internalized and individual. In a way, the places and events in our lives create a map that can only serve to guide the person who created it.

This series of photos is based on sculptural, site-specific, and environmental installations. They center around the idea of a wallow—a place where one goes to think, daydream, revel, or just be—that becomes somehow marked by repeated use, often resulting in a transformation of some sort. They also comment on the relationship between humans and the environment and how our acts are intimately responded to.

This series of photos was taken in Oaxaca, Mexico during a 10-day workshop. They are 11" x 14", type C prints made from negatives taken with a Nikon 35 mm SLR or a Zeiss Ikon medium format camera.

This series of photos was taken in Guanajuato, Mexico during a 10-day workshop. They are 11" x 14", silver gelatin prints made from negatives taken with a Nikon 35 mm SLR or a Seagull medium format TLR camera.