The Desert Unicorn
My M.F.A. project, The Desert Unicorn, is an exploration of childhood landscapes in New Mexico. Inspired by Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn, as well as nature writers like Robin Wall Kimmerer and Helen Macdonald, I spent the summer of 2023 photographing my former home in Las Cruces. I examined personal and cultural relationships to death and environment, from documenting my deceased maternal grandmother’s garden to trekking across a landscape in constant flux. Using my camera to establish new connections with my former home, I learned how to embrace the moments of making and when to let go. The work, which started as a collection of 4 x 5 negatives made with a field camera, culminated in a series of archival pigment prints on kitakata paper, a handmade accordion book, and a video sourced from family archives. The project was presented in the UConn M.F.A. in Studio Art 2024 Thesis Exhibition, Something Like Knowing, at the William Benton Museum of Art alongside my classmates Kenny Heyne, Jennifer Davies, Logan R. Bishop, and Rossie Stearns.
This work is dedicated to my family and the Downwinders, particularly those in Tularosa, who have inspired me to rethink not only my notions of home, but how visualizing connections and histories can help people reconsider the past, imagine, and work towards a more hopeful future.
The Desert Unicorn installed at the William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, Conn. Installation photograph by Monica Hamilton.
Something Like Knowing installed at the William Benton Museum of Art. Background: The Desert Unicorn. Foreground: Works by Logan R. Bishop (left) and Jennifer Davies (right). Installation photograph by Monica Hamilton.
In which new life builds on the past, 2023, printed 2024, archival pigment print on kitakata, 36 x 29 in. Installation photograph by Monica Hamilton.
The Desert Unicorn, 2024, handmade accordion book (detail). Installation photograph by Monica Hamilton.
The Desert Unicorn, 2024, handmade accordion book (detail). Installation photograph by Monica Hamilton.
The Garden of Memory, 2024, archived family videos, 7:16.