COMMON GROUND FI NDI NG MY WAY BACK
BYST E VIMCNE I LL
CONTENTS PROJECT STATEMENT COMMON GROUND -FI NAL I MAGES BOOK ONLI NE PRESENCE REVI EWS LI GURES ST OF FI
“ ALANDSCAPEI SBE AUT I F ULWHE NI THASBE E NORCANBET HESCE NEOFSI GNI F I CANT E XPE RI E NCEI NSE LFAWARE NE SSAND E VE NT UALSE LF -KNOWLE DGE . ” -JOHNBRI NCKE RHOF FJACKSON,DI SCOVE RI NG T HEVE RNACULARLANDSCAPE
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PROJECT STATEMENT Imo oAmer i cas omewhatunexpect edl yi n2007 .Icamebackt oCol or adoexpect m vedbackt i ngt obeher ef oraf ewmont hsandt ak et hatt i met or econnectwi t hf ami l y ,expl or et hevas t l andandal li thadt oo er ,t henr et ur nt ot heU. K. atwast wel veyear sago.Si ncet hen,I havet r avel l edmos toft hewes tcoas tandt heRockymount ai ns . evas twi l der nes sbeck ons t obeexpl or edandexper i enced.Wi t hCommonGr ound,Ii nt endt opor t r ayar eect i vei nves t i gat i onoft hes eexpl or at i onsandexper i ences . et hemesofl and,l and management ,communi and acces si nf or m mypr oj ect .I nt he Cr i t i calRevi ew ofPr act i ce,Iwi l ldes cr i behow myFi nalPr oj ecthasevol vedanddevel oped concer ni ngt hes ecent r alt hemes .
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IM AGES
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THE BOOK
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figure49
Printed By Artifact Upriseing: 100%
PCW White with matte finish
100%
recycled
Co ver Sto ck: Mohawk Superfine Eggshell 12016
www.stevi m cnei I I .com/common-ground-the- book.
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ďŹ gur e5 0
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PRINTS
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LABYRINTH CANYON Memories from a time spent in Labyrinth Canyon, Utah. These days will be treasured by all of us that floated the river for five days, and now I am happy to share some of these memories with you.
3 images in the gallery
AFTERNOON SWIM// LUNCH ON THE SANDBAR
NEW LANDS// LABYRINTH CANYON from $102.90
from $102.90
figure51
lhe Printshop. Selected prints can be viewed
and purchased.
d ustgrits. pi c-time.com /art
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FLOATIN' THE GREEN from $102.90
W EB PRESENCE
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MA Coursework// Workin Progress Common Ground// Finding My Way Back About Prints Dust+Grit Jnstagram
figure52 Website: stevimcneill.com The gallery page is designed to be a virtual gallery to display images Common Ground. This allows
for a wider reach, as it provides the ability to reach viewers from around the world.
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On my website, You will also find navi
Landings Group
gation to prints from the project that are for sale, lnstagram where the viewer
Exhibition
can see more of how the work was cre ated, and other comical and personal
www. Iandings .space/
#LANDINGS2020
Figure 55 lnstagram. I have been able to share the journey
of this project with my followers. In my highlights,
you will find my experimentations, book editing and overall project development. This as also led
me to make new connections, has been a tool to
interact with my audience directly.
projects.
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www. instagram .com/stevi. menei11/
FEED BACK / REVIEW S
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Lauren Masterson// Co-Founder oflhe Portland Darkroom,
Rebecca Stumpf // Photographer//
Marketing & Development Director at Live Wire //
www.rebeccastumpfcom/about
www.theportlanddarkroom.org
I think your project has such a wonderful feel to it. It has both a haunting empti足
ness and a warm welcoming feel to it (I imagine similar to what you experience
going between the UK and the US). Each image, as ghostly as they feel, beckons me and calls to possess me in that place and make me feel at home and welcomed.
The flow of the project from the empty landscapes to simple structures to habit足
Your work is lovely, relatable, and poetic. Though this project was a very
personal exploration, your introspection and the exploration of your sur足
roundings is something many can relate to, especially in times of change.
I enjoy the tension between movement and stillness in Figures 1 and 2, as
well as how that dichotomy connects back to your project statement.
able structures to the introduction of humans in the images, speaks to your search
Something I notice through this project is a transition in the imagery fea足
inclusion of humans at the end, brings us full circle to the landscapes, that now
d o, they are facing away, and exist in relation to their environment. But,
for finding your place in the US nicely. But what I love is how the project, with the suddenly feel less empty. Love the inclusion of color midway through. How great those turned out with that expired film! AND, I also loved the water leaked film! Happy accidents are the best.
turing people. The earlier images mostly do not include figures, and, if they later in the series, figures face towards the camera, take up larger amounts
of the visual space in the images, or are in groups.
I love the pairing of Figures 16 and 17 - feels temporal and delicate.
I think there is a strong cohesion between the first portion of the project.
These vague, less descriptive images really feel connected to the project
concept. I have a bit more d ifficulty connecting the later images in the series back to the concept. From an outside perspective, the work starts to
feel a bit less directed/centralized, but I assume that's likely related to your
personal journey through these times. Readers might benefit from more
information about the transition of these images as the project progresses.
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Rebecca Manning// Collections Manager Mulvane Art Museum Washburn // Instructor Washburn University// mulvaneartmuseum.org Photographer Stevi McN eil! (6. 1986) taps into what universally appeals about landscape-its ability to convey his
tory, memory, spirituality, identity and regeneration. Originally from Brighton, the artist has been living in the American West since 2007, treating the landscape of the region as a primary subject. It is fitting that she should
allude in her photo series title to another British photographer who sought to explore the same area the in late 6os, Hamish Fulton. The English walking artist's influence is evident throughout. Like Fulton, McN eil! uses her pho
tographs to translate the emotional experience of navigating a given space. "[Fulton] documents his walks honest
ly, and in a minimal manner, yet they allude to loneliness and wonder that only he can experience firsthand," McN eil! writes.
Removed from the context of firsthand experience, the photographs in Common Ground possess a familiarity in
their fleeting sensory details and sense of atmosphere. Like Fulton, McN eil! often uses the path as a pictorial motif
in her photographs. In this manner, Ogden Utah, 2020, utilizes an appealing and almost formulaic composition to capture the subtle tonal qualities of a curving trail receding to the horizon. "When looking back at my images, I no
ticed I was focusing on the paths and trials more so than anything else around me," McN eil! writes, "Upon reflect
ing on what drew me to photographing the path, I came to realise it represents the possibility of where it will lead."
Winding down a mountainside, the trail motif appears again, though less prominently, in one of the most striking
images of the series, The N orth Fork Valley, 2020. With its oblique vantage point, this image of mist over a small
mountain lake does not so much imply an intended journey as much as it lends the viewer the sense that they have
arrived at a place of communion with nature.
The linear quality of the trail motif extends to other landscape features, such as rivers and streams, which similarly
serve to draw the viewer's eye through the composition and extend the outlook by presence of an implied journey.
The idea of embarking on a journey is more overtly communicated when McNeil I includes indicators of travel-such
as signs and boats. These markers also serve to acknowledge the implicit human presence within the landscape.
Introducing and indicating the figure to landscape was purposeful on the artist's part, "I started to included people
in my landscapes more, not just the traces of them. I felt it an essential part of the project and its progression to show the human experience of the places." Advancing from Sky Pond, an image of seemingly discarded old shoes
on a trail, to Green River, Utah, an image of a woman standing in an arid landscape, the function of the figure shifts from the significative to the actual subject. In that shift, the viewer goes from vicariously experiencing the land
scape via the photographer's perspective, or lens, to a less participatory role: watching female figures interact with
the landscape.
The conceptual crux of Common Ground is McN eill's consideration of how she uses her camera and processes her
images. The artist used plants she collected from the landscapes she photographed to develop her film. In so doing, she has connected the site of the image, and its organic vestiges, to the physical photograph. Her literal journey through landscape pervades the picture plane and manifests itself in its making. -Rebecca Manning
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FIGURES
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FI GURE1.WASHI NGTON,SUMMER2020,STEVIMCNEI LL
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