Artist's Notes

© Wm Daniel File, 2021

The Prairie of the United States often goes unnoticed by the "important populations" along the coasts.  Heck, it often even goes unnoticed by the 'locals' whizzing through it on the interstates.  In a way, the hardy souls who worked and lived on what is commonly known as 'The Great Plains' have much in common with ghosts. After all, what is a ghost but, as Frederic W. H. Myers once wrote, "..a manifestation of persistent personal energy."

The "Great Plains" way of life is falling prey to decay, and man’s tangible relationship to the earth, the very soil, is becoming more virtual and less real.  To the growing number of urban dwellers, farms are becoming the competitors of the city, seemingly more a resource for suburban construction than for agriculture.  But from the beginning, real people lived there, and were connected to the land.

The people have always been hardy souls.  Strong in all things America:  strength of body, strength of character.  There was an optimism that allowed families to grow as big and strong as the corn and the wheat.  While those of the big cities were being tied more and more to the clocks of finance and commerce, those of the Prairie still timed their lives by the sun and season.  Countless thousands of sod-busters, sheep-herders, and cowboys brought their energy.  Business and banking and ‘culture’ followed the trail being blazed.  Today, the people of the Great Plains are still special.  They have chosen to live and work in what the coastal city dwellers refer to as the ‘fly-over states’.  From 30,000 feet, depending upon the season, the Prairie can look like a patchwork of earthen-colored tiles or an expanse of greens not seen since the Land of Oz.  The same winds that help ‒and hinder‒ air travel at 30,000 feet can also bring sweet rain or devastating tornadoes to the patchwork below.

If you are looking to these images for visual proof of individual ghosts and their images, I cannot in good conscience suggest that these photographs will satisfy your interest.  However, if you are willing to expand your ghostly proofs to include shadows and footprints and energies of spirits long past, then follow your curiosity here.  Allow your eyes to lead your heart.  Give yourself the opportunity to see what is there, in all its beauty and warmth and depth.  Touch the textures rich and hearty, and feel what most people today miss.  What I tried to capture within these images is, indeed, proof of those who lived and loved and learned, who worked with their hands and hearts and minds to coax sustenance from what Nature might provide as raw material.  Welcome to my selection of Ghosts Of The Prairie.

Biography

(b. 1948, Decatur, Illinois     Lives and works in the St. Louis, MO area)

Mr. File has spent most of his adult life working or teaching in the visual and performing arts. He has a BS in Education degree from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. All of the work Mr. File has done in the arts, from lighting, design & building, painting, and even his collaboration with other artists, has substantially informed and influenced his aesthetic approach to his present work as an award-winning photographic artist, with 9 solo exhibitions and over 50 juried regional, national, and international exhibitions since 2009. His work is represented in several corporate permanent collections, in publications, and has been featured in a US Senator's Washington office. Early in Mr. File's career as an award-winning university professor, he worked as a 'theatrical photographer', shooting actor and model headshots, promotional photography for various theatres, and record images for various theatrical artists. Besides teaching theatrical design classes (scenic & lighting design primarily), he was responsible for the design elements of more than 180 theatrical productions. He taught those elements at both graduate and undergraduate levels, and included technical elements of the theatre in classes such as sound design & production, property design & production, and stage management. He served on many MFA and PhD thesis committees. After retiring from university teaching having reached the level of Associate Professor, Mr. File built a career as a union actor for professional theatre (Actor's Equity Association) and film & television (Screen Actor's Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), and performed in regional theatres across the US, in more than 70 drama, comedy, musical, and Shakespearean productions. 

www.WmDanielFile.com