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Discovery of Freedom

A collaged landscape of images from DeSmet, SD, this video is a winter portrait of the site of the famous Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House on the Prarie".

HD video

2014

In this work the stark landscape of Wilder's youth is juxtaposed with the architecture of the rural industrial present in the town near the homestead site. The McCoys were first drawn to the site during a summer cross country driving trip which began their research into America’s “frontier” ideology. Research into the site revealed that the Ingalls family was granted the homestead land by the United States government. The conditions were harsh and the family moved after a short time. Later, Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane co-wrote the famous books, based on the family’s time at the homestead. A journalist and pundit of her time, Wilder’s daughter coined the term “libertarian” (along with the more famous Ayn Rand).

Excerpt below

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