DIG: Notes on Field and Family, a new book and exhibition by photographer Sarah Wilson is a meditative journey through family connections, geographic memory, and deep time. This work was inspired by the artist’s grandfather, paleontologist Dr. John A. Wilson, who was a professor of geology and paleontology at the University of Texas. Before he died, he gave Sarah three black metal boxes filled with faded 35mm Kodachrome slides. These teaching slides featured images of geologic charts, rock formations, bone fragments and skulls photos from his annual digs in West Texas and Big Bend National Park. Holding them up to the light, Wilson realized that she and her grandfather had photographed some of the exact same desert landscapes, from the same vantage points, only fifty years apart. This shared connection ignited an adventure and a long-term project. Wilson now joins paleontologists on digs each winter in the Big Bend area, searching for bones and photographing the same stark desert landscapes featured in those vintage 35mm transparencies. But her work goes beyond an homage to her grandfather. Sarah’s conceptual self-portraits in the style of geology and anatomy charts, combine the personal and the scientific. Her images of Texas badlands, wheat-pasted on wood are both sculptural and photographic. Wilson’s work is an homage to an origin story that reaches beyond traceable generations. Each bone collected is evidence of the slow, significant work of evolution, serving as a bracing reminder that we, as humans, sit at the very end of that timeline.
This FOTOFEST exhibition will coincide with another photographic investigation into Far West Texas and the Big Bend area by Marathon based photographer, James Evans. Each artist presents a unique vision for this singular place, rooted in landscape, memory, history and experience.
Opening Reception: March 9th, 6-8pm
Sarah Wilson: Artist Talk & Book Signing: April 13, 3-4PM
Closing Reception: April 13, 4-6pm
713.521.7500
www.foltzgallery.com
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SightLine,Devil’sGraveyard(1/5),2023
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BigSlide:Devil’sGraveyard(1/5),2023
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713.521.7500
Sarah C. Wilson (b. 1977)
Sarah Wilson is a photographer, cinematographer, film producer and member of Go-Valley, the Austin-based film production company she co-founded with her husband, director Keith Maitland. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she balances documentary films and editorial photography assignments with personal and public art projects. Wilson has been on assignment for The New York Times Magazine, Time, People, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, National Geographic Brand Stories and several other publications including Texas Monthly, where she is featured on the masthead. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Harry Ransom Center and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and she has received awards at photo festivals in the US and abroad. In 2016 Wilson worked as a cinematographer and executive producer on the shortlisted, animated documentary, TOWER, winner of the Emmy for Best Historical Documentary, as well as a Critics’ Choice Award for Most Innovative Documentary. In 2022, GoValley released DEAR MR. BRODY, which Sarah Wilson both lensed and served as a producer.
Wilson’s portrait series about an East Texas town in the aftermath of a hate crime, titled Jasper, Texas: The Healing of a Community in Crisis, received multiple grants, toured seven cities in Texas, and showed at the White Box Gallery in New York City. With BLIND PROM, Wilson volunteered as the prom night photographer at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired for ten years. Blind Prom was awarded the PhotoNOLA Review Prize, and showed at New York’s Foley Gallery, the New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery and at China’s Lishui Photography Festival.
In her current photographic series, DIG, Wilson explores her grandfather’s life’s work as a paleontologist, inspiring her own search for fossils and existential perspective in the West Texas desert. Before he died, Wilson’s grandfather gave her three black metal boxes filled with faded Kodachromes, his teaching slides from when he was a professor of geology and paleontology at the University of Texas. The images featured geologic charts, rock formations, bone fragments, skulls, and landscapes from his annual digs in West Texas and Big Bend National Park. Holding them up to the light, Wilson realized that she and her grandfather photographed some of the exact same desert landscapes, from the same vantage points, only fifty years apart. This shared connection ignited an adventure and a long-term project, featured in the pages of her first book, DIG: Notes on Field and Family.
Wilson now joins paleontologists on digs every winter in the Big Bend area, searching for bones and photographing the same stark desert landscapes featured in those vintage 35mm transparencies. But her work is not just an homage to her grandfather. She has created conceptual self-portraits in the style of geology and anatomy charts, combining the personal and the scientific. For Wilson, these annual digs are a pilgrimage to an origin story that reaches beyond
Foltzgallery.com
traceable generations. Each bone collected is evidence of the slow, significant work of evolution, serving as a bracing reminder that we, as humans, sit at the very end of that timeline.
Selected Career Highlights
Born in 1977
1996 - 2000 BFA, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, New York
1997 – 2000 Photographic Internships with Mary Ellen Mark, Robert Clark, and Texas Monthly
1999 Studio assistant to photographer James Evans; resides in Marathon, Texas
2000 Recipient of Daniel Rosenberg Traveling Fellowship from NYU’s Tisch School
2000 Selected Participant of The Eddie Adams Photographic Workshop XIII
2000-2004 Grants awarded by the Texas Council for the Humanities, the Trull Foundation, and the Cartwright Foundation for the touring photographic exhibition, Jasper, Texas: The Healing of a Community in Crisis
2008 Winner of the 2008 Photo NOLA Review Prize for BLIND PROM
2009 Santa Fe Prize for Photography Nominee, CENTER Santa Fe
2014 Photo Forum panelist, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
2016 Cinematographer and executive producer on the shortlisted, animated documentary, TOWER, winner of the Emmy for Best Historical Documentary, as well as a Critics’ Choice Award for Most Innovative Documentary 2016
2016 Cinematographer and Producer for A Song for You: The Austin City Limits Story, premiered at SXSW
2021 - 2022 Cinematographer and Producer of Dear Mr. Brody - featured at Telluride, Tribeca, Doc 5 , Woodstock, and other film festivals
2021 ESSENTIALS public art show, City of Austin ArtResponders Grant recipient
2022 Center for Big Bend Studies Annual Conference featured presenter
2023 Publishes DIG: Notes on Field and Family
2023 Book Talk, Marfa Agave Festival, Marfa, Texas
Selected Exhibitions
2024 DIG, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas
2023 DIG, Do Right Hall, Marfa, Texas
2023 DIG, Charles Moore House, Austin, Texas
2021 ESSENTIALS, public art show, Austin, Texas
2016 Journey into the Big Bend, group show, Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin, TX
2009 -2010 BLIND PROM
The New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA,
The Lishui International Photography Festival, Lishui, China
The Foley Gallery, New York, NY
2002 – 2007 Jasper, Texas: The Healing of a Community in Crisis
The Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX
The White Box Gallery, New York, NY
The Southwest School of Art and Craft, San Antonio, TX
Foltzgallery.com
Dallas Public Library, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, Dallas, TX
The Gallery Square, Jasper, TX
George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, TX
2000 Marathon, Texas, NYU Thesis Exhibition, Gulf and Western Gallery, New York, NY
Collections
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Lishui Photography Museum of China
Experience
2000 – current Owner of Sarah Wilson Photography, Austin, Texas
2014 – current Go-Valley Films, Co-owner, Cinematographer and Producer
2019 – current Adjunct Photography Professor at The DPP, Austin Community College
2014 – current Artist in Residence, Vertebrate Paleontology Lab, University of Texas
Foltzgallery.com
SarahWilson
SightLine,Devil’sGraveyard(1/5),2023
Photographicprintswheatpastedonnestingwoodpanels
56x180x3in
$14,400.00
Overall:56"Hx15’(180”)W
Sarah Wilson
Expectant Silhouette, the Chisos (1/10), 2017
Archival Hahnemuhle Print 16 x 40 in
Sarah Wilson
John A. Wilson’s Teaching Slides (1/10), 2014/2021
Archival Hahnemuhle Print 26 x 40 in
$5,800.00
Sarah Wilson Dalquest Overlook (1/10), 2023 Photographic prints wheat-pasted on nesting wood panels 35 x 48 x 2 in
Soft Mountain, Big Bend (1/10), 2013 Wheatpasted photographic print on wood 34 x 52 in
Framed 35.25 x 53.25 in $4,300.00
Sarah Wilson
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UncoveryNo.1(2/10),2023
CastBronzerelicofSaberToothCat 5x11x6in
$3,800.00
fromRefractory
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Blacktop
$450.00
$45000
SarahWilson
FM2810(1/25),2024
archivalprintwheat-pastedonwood
$45000
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DIG:NotesonFieldandFamilybySarahWilson,2023 $6000
DIG:NotesonFieldandFamily-SarahWilson
Beforehedied,photographerSarahWilson’sgrandfathergaveherthreeblackmetal boxesfilledwithfadedKodachromesTheimagesfeaturedgeologiccharts,rock formations,bonefragmentsandskulls,andlandscapesfromhisannualdigsinWest TexasandBigBendNationalParkThesewerehisteachingslidesfromwhenhewasa professorofgeologyandpaleontologyattheUniversityofTexasHoldingthemupto thelight,Wilsonrealizedthatsheandhergrandfatherphotographedsomeoftheexact samedesertlandscapes,fromthesamevantagepoints,onlyfiftyyearsapartThis sharedconnectionignitedanadventureandalong-termproject,featuredinthepages ofherfirstbook,DIG:NotesonFieldandFamily
WilsonjoinspaleontologistsondigseverywinterintheBigBendarea,searchingfor bonesandphotographingthesamestarkdesertlandscapesfeaturedinthosevintage 35mmtransparencies.Butherworkisnotjustanhomagetohergrandfather.Shehas createdconceptualself-portraitsinthestyleofgeologyandanatomycharts, combiningthepersonalandthescientific.ForSarah,theseannualdigsarea pilgrimagetoanoriginstorythatreachesbeyondtraceablegenerations.Eachbone collectedisevidenceoftheslow,significantworkofevolution,servingasabracing reminderthatwe,ashumans,sitattheveryendofthattimeline.
SecondeditionreleasedApril2023
PhotographsbySarahWilson
EssaybyMatthewA.Brown
Hardcover,11.25x9.25inches
128pages
Editionof350
ISBN:978-1-949608-34-2
TradeEdition:$6000