Ian Bates was born in 1992 in New Brunswick, NJ, and is a photographic artist based in San Francisco.
His photographs look at his curiosities of contradictions in human nature around the United States and how people interact with the environments they inhabit.
About ‘Meadowlark’ – words by Ian Bates:
“The land waves back and forth as the wind blows through the prairie grass, flowing seamlessly into the sea. It smells like cow patties and dry hay. The yellow and blackbird flees danger from beneath the prairie floor up to gnarled fence posts. The old farmers have left, into the cities or into the ground. The bird hit by the pickup barreling across the highway, returns to earth. Everything left behind now belongs to the soil. I walked up to a man who told me he was being watched by the FBI. We were far away from anything, nowhere to be watched and everywhere to hide. The anxiety of silence consumes these places. The roar of tractors disappears as they roll over the hills. The flapping of wings dissipates into the breeze blowing past your ears. Where does all that wind go?”
