Lindsay Linton Buk

Lindsay Linton Buk exhibiting ‘Women in Wyoming’ project

CAMILLE ERICKSON

307-266-0592, camille.erickson@trib.com

Before taking a photograph, artist Lindsay Linton Buk searches for the “spark” or “little flame” in the eyes of the woman before her.

“I can feel it when I’m working with someone,” the 34-year-old Wyoming photographer said.

This bolt of light she identifies in her subjects can be easily dampened by the world, Lindsay said, but she hopes to capture and amplify it in her art. Since 2016, Lindsay has been working on her project “Women in Wyoming,” a series of portraits and interviews that celebrate the lives of the “brave, strong and impactful” women driving the Equality State forward.

“My hope with creating these stories is that you, as my viewer, can see a reflection of yourself and that it ignites something within you,” she said.

In her mind, women and girls need to see themselves reflected in the world around them more.

“Seeing women in positions of power and leadership, or just standing in their truth is really, really powerful,” she said.

As a young girl being raised in rural Wyoming, she vacillated over what she wanted to be when she grew up. Looking back, Lindsay wishes she had seen more of herself represented in the stories or images around her.

“I know I would have loved to see more of that growing up,” she said. “It’s not that it didn’t exist, it’s just living in smaller towns you don’t necessarily see all that.”

Raised rural

The fifth-generation Wyomingite grew up in Powell. Lindsay’s family lived on the edge of town; their backyard bled into acres upon acres of farm land.

From the age of 2, she started dancing, exploring the boundaries of movement and freedom against the backdrop of an open and mountainous landscape.

Her father owned a farm and ranch store in Powell. He also cared for a garden near the house. One of Lindsay’s earliest memories is spending summer days with her father, nibbling on crunchy snap peas.

Despite her rosy childhood filled with outdoor adventure and play, Lindsay was convinced at a young age she wouldn’t stick around Wyoming long. She couldn’t envision a life for herself as an artist in the

ARTIST brings Wyoming women’s story into light

CONTRIBUTED Artist Lindsay Linton Buk is photographed on location in Bighorn. Since 2016, Buk has been working on her project “Women in Wyoming,” a series of portraits and interviews that celebrate the lives of the “brave, strong and impactful” women driving the Equality State forward.

Equality State.

She recalls flipping through stacks of National Geographic issues, hungry to travel beyond the boundaries of the tiny Wyoming enclave.

“While I had such a wonderful childhood and Powell was such an amazing place to grow up, I just never imagined that I would have a future in Wyoming as a creative person,” she said. “I always thought I would have to leave to be successful.”

After studying history and geography in college, Lindsay looked at her options and realized she wasn’t done learning. She picked up a camera and enrolled in a twoyear photography program at the community college in Powell, challenging herself just to see what was possible.

Once she completed her photography classes, Lindsay spent a pivotal three-year stint in New York City, honing her craft as an emerging photographer. She landed a gig with the renowned artist Rodney Smith after cold-calling his studio.

While studying at Northwest College in Powell, she had seen reproductions of his work in film — “romantic, timeless, original” — decorating the studio walls. So the ambitious artist sent her portfolio to Smith. Soon after, she moved to New York City to work with him.

“I am a believer in just asking, just put yourself out there,” she laughed.

But a magnetic tug from her hometown struck again, and a curiosity drove her back to Wyoming in 2013.

“When I came back, I really had to question that belief and that idea that I had held that Wyoming is limiting,” she said. “There are so many amazing people doing incredible work here, but it’s not always at the surface.”

‘Women in Wyoming’

A determination to bring Wyoming women’s accomplishments to light catalyzed her multi-year project, “Women in Wyoming.” Using her camera and recorder, she documented the varied journeys of over a dozen women, bringing hidden stories to light from all four corners of the state. The culminating multimedia exhibition commemorates the 150th anniversary of Wyoming’s female citizens becoming the first women in U.S. history to gain the unrestricted right to vote.

Sen. A e Ellis, Wyoming’s first Navajo and Native American senator, participated in the first chapter of Lindsay’s project. Sitting at Ellis’ kitchen table, Lindsay asked the working mother of three to share all about her life.

“I was blown away by Lindsay, who at her heart is an artist,” Ellis said. “I felt really comfortable speaking with her, because she’s just a good listener and really easy to talk to.

“Her project came at a really good time for our state as we were celebrating the passage of the su rage,” she added. Lindsay now lives and works in Jackson. But the artist’s deep roots in Powell often pull her back to her place of birth, she said, where the town of 6,000 will always feel like home. Her grandparents, now in their 90s, still live in Powell, roughly a city block away from her childhood home.

Now the mother of a five-month-old baby, Lindsay hopes the COVID-19 pandemic won’t keep her family apart for much longer, with introductions to the newest family member limited to video chatting.

Lindsay’s multimedia exhibit, “Women in Wyoming: Portraits and Interviews of Women Who Shape the West,” is on view at the Bu alo Bill Center of the West in Cody until Aug. 2. The exhibit will then travel to the University of Wyoming Art Museum and will open on Sept. 12. For details, visit womeninwyoming.com/ exhibit-1.