The author of "Marking the Land," a photographic tribute to the complex and unyielding landscape of North Dakota, will present a program about his book at 3 p.m. Aug. 10, at the North Dakota Heritage Center, Bismarck.
Jim Dow began his pilgrimages from Boston to North Dakota in 1981, commissioned by the North Dakota Museum of Art to photograph the passing human presence upon the land.
At first, Dow photographed folk art within the environment -- sculpture, murals, carvings, and then tourist traps, odd manifestations, surface appearances, and the rich variety of items farmers made in their shops during the long winter months. Gradually, his vision expanded to include vernacular architecture -- people's places of business, classrooms, workshops, homes, backyards and hunting lodges, as well as churches and cemeteries and prison yards.
Twenty-six years and 300 photographs later, the project has resulted into the North Dakota portrait as shown in "Marking the Land." It is a gentle assessment of a time, a land and its people and, just outside the picture frame, the weather that mandates endless change. And like most things in North Dakota, the boundaries are fluid. Just as the rivers of this land ignore the state lines, so too did Dow in his quest to photograph the essence of the state.
Following his Aug. 10 presentation, Dow will be available to sign copies of his book at the North Dakota Heritage Center.
