Groundwork began as a photographic study of the fallen, mottled fruits of Asimina triloba: the American pawpaw. It turned into an ecological meditation on intergenerational trauma and the potential for future healing.

As we mark the 60th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty—and are, yet again, bombarded daily with distorted narratives about our region, histories, and peoples—it’s critical that we create opportunities to learn how to perceive ourselves, as well as West Virginia’s diverse ecosystems, in ways other than those prescribed by economic imperatives and extractive capitalism. This is a key element of the groundwork undertaken in Groundwork.