An Interview with Roxanne Darling — Melanie McWhorter Photography Consultant

Discussing Age at Sunset with a Saguaro , © Roxanne Darling

MELANIE MCWHORTER: Roxanne, the motivations for this project are personal and complex, yet the project resonates universally with many viewers especially women. Will you speak a bit about your motivations for the project?

ROXANNE DARLING: Curiously, this project came from nature herself. My partner and I were out on a two-month RV trip in the western U.S. There were distinct moments when I felt strongly called to disrobe and photograph myself in the environment. One of the stronger impulses was in the redwoods. We entered a state park in the afternoon and I noticed a large fallen log adjacent to the trail. “Here, now” was the message in my brain. But since it was only 300 yards from the parking lot, we continued walking, thinking I could “find another fallen tree.” I did find one deeper into the forest, but on the way out this specific tree would not let me pass. As luck would be with us, I was able to shed my clothes, set up the shot, and this “Resting in the Redwoods” remains one of my favorites.

MM: What are some of the reactions that you have received when you discuss its motivations? Or to the actual visual objects?

RD: This is a two-part answer. When I show the images, especially to women, I often get vocal exclamations. People feel the power of being present in the wild spaces, without any distractions of decoration, costume, makeup, posing, etc. To me, there is something about the vulnerability of showing up in these majestic locations and being side-by-side, rather than hiding or dominating, that is uncommon and welcome.

Part two is what has resulted after I learned these two questions artists can pose to their work:
What is it saying? Who is it for?

I did a deep dive into this conversation with my work — I also love writing. This brought forth titles and poems that shed light and a lot of metaphorical meaning. I think many people grok this when viewing the images; adding the words adds to the “aha” energy and strength of each image.

Another image that illustrates this process is “Saying Goodbye to My Merchandised Self.” In it, I’m standing on a large boulder at sunrise, in Puget Sound, WA, with a container ship passing by in the distance. The morning we took that walk, I had a powerful urge to photograph when I saw the ship and the boulder. It was a rush to set up the shot and capture it before the ship passed out of frame! I didn’t know why at the time but I had learned to respect the process and internal communication.

Months later, when writing, it came to me: women are so often seen as objects, even as acquisitions. As humans, we’ve adopted habits of over-consumption. The over-consumption leads to pollution and degradation of the environment. And suddenly it all came full circle for me. This connection between how women and nature are both revered and desecrated, consumed and discarded. I am saying goodbye to these things in my life.

MM: What was the first photograph that you took for this project? What was its story and how did it launch the project?

RD: I now think of the first image as one I haven’t shown. It was taken the day of my mother’s funeral, in Michigan. My partner and I were walking along a lake, next to the hotel where we were staying. There was an abandoned dinghy and I felt this urge to disrobe and photograph. My mother, who died at age 92, revealed in her early 80s that she had been painting and drawing for about 10 years. She pulled all this art she had made out of the basement and held an art show at her country club. It was filled with adoring friends and family! It brought her so much joy to have about 75% of the work sold!

I think now that somehow this artistic spirit of my mom’s was passing down to me that day of her funeral. I ended up taking a few more pictures on that trip.

MM: The body is a formal element in the photographs while trying to separate the sexualized body from the object and its representation. You also contrast the human form with nature, sometimes soft elements like the Hawaiian grasses versus the barren landscape of the saguaro desert. There are many dualities in your photographs that play with masculinity and femininity. How do you choose the scenes and how does this related to what you are speaking about with this project? What other themes or dualities do you see in the photos?

RD: I believe the scenes chose me and I chose to listen. I can easily get too much in my head! One of the things I love about this work is how it feels channeled to me, not manufactured or intentionally created. The primary intention was to be in union with nature, and in a sense, to be her muse. I love the diversity that resulted — all as a result of the decision to go on the two-month trip in the RV. I’ve continued to add images, though I try to lead with the space and the time and let my mind figure it out later. I feel this keeps the work “natural” rather than contrived.

One clear exception was when I was in a Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, whose topic was “Creating a Personal Project.” This was not so much about making new images but working with an existing body of work. Nonetheless, we were ‘strongly encouraged’ to do some shooting during the week. One of my favorite images came from that week, as I pushed myself to go out in the dry, late summer, thorny desert and start a dialog with the harsh environment. The image is called, “Sitting with My Sweet and Thorny Memories.”

As for other themes, this is a growing conundrum, almost. Although each individual image may speak more to one idea or another, the body of work together does have many themes: formal yet unscripted, the female gaze, the vast ideas around trash, the experiences of MeToo, the freedom and strength that can come with aging, and so on.

MM: What role do the poems play in the title/project?

RD: For me, they play the role of moderator or commentator. Though they represent my personal point of view and experiences, I hope they engage the viewer into more conversation with each image. It’s such a habit these days to scroll and scroll and scroll, being visually wowed, perhaps, but barely making a dent in the viewer’s consciousness. I happen to love words as much as visuals, so this allows me to play in more than one medium in the same body of work. And it allows the viewer to go much deeper into the messages of the images.

MM: You have received some recognition for this project lately, where have you shown the work?

RD: I’ve been juried in to many shows, some online and some in person. I’ve been shown in galleries from Plymouth, MA to Johnson City, TX, to Los Angeles, CA, where one of my images earned an Honorable Mention at the LACP Annual Members Exhibition. The Griffin Museum of Photography is showing my work in a ‘virtual solo show,’ from October 24 - Dec 6, 2019. When I met the curator, Paula Tognarelli and she looked at my work, she said it would fit really well with a series of (already filled) shows on the topic of aging. I am so honored to be in this prestigious museum!

I presented my work at a special event at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach recently. The program was called “Things Falling Apart” and focused on climate change. Organized by The Cream Literary Alliance, I was the featured guest alongside other poets and the city of WPB. My image, “Saying Goodbye to My Merchandised Self,” was the featured image for the program. I showed my work, read my poetry, and created a forest bathing meditation for the audience. I’m also excited to be ac- cepted into Review Santa Fe and PhotoNOLA this fall.

I am eager to present my work in any public art program or meeting that is focused on climate, MeToo, aging, and/or feminism. I would love to have my work collected by a women’s organization or female-centric collector who can display it in venues that reach the general public. I’m working on an exhibition proposal. I think my work would be well-accepted in Europe as well.

I want to add that I have been helped so much by you, Melanie, as well as other consultants and photo reviews. I’ve been so impacted by the insights and feedback of others.

MM: The project will evolve over time. What are you thinking of incorporating next in the project/pieces?

RD: I recently took some business training for artists and came up with the idea of making ‘guerrilla’ posters from some of my images. In this iteration, I will add words on top of the images as a call to action. I consider it a connection to my political action days from college at UC Berkeley and also an homage to the Guerrilla Girls, who have done so much to raise the consciousness of women artists and women in art. I intend to make these available to anyone who wants to post them in public spaces.

The more I write with my work, the more I feel and see themes of aging, of trash and trash talk — both regarding women and also how we women talk to ourselves. My personal history with incest and rape is clearly embedded in my interpretation of the images and I feel these are what we are also doing to the Earth. I am at an age, though, where I don’t want to argue or defend. I instead want to show the beauty of wild places and the self-acceptance of being nude in nature, in hopes it might inspire oth- ers to be kinder to themselves and our planet.

Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak about my work. I am still learning from it.

Roxanne Darling
www.iamfortheloveofnature.com
@roxannedarilng on Instagram

Saying Goodbye to My Merchandized Self, © Roxanne Darling