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InspirationPhotography

The Shepherd’s Daughter by Clare Benson

Photographer Clare Benson is the person behind this beautiful ongoing series, The Shepherd's Daughter, which investigates themes of family history, memory and mythology.

Written By:
Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist

Growing up within a family of hunters, Benson wanted to document her sister and her father trekking through the Alaskan wilderness, carrying the spoils of their hunting expeditions on their backs.

She explained: "Before my father, my grandmother was a hunter and before that my great-grandmother, and long before that the stars made up constellations that told stories of the greatest hunts. In my work, the nuances of hunting and the rugged northern Michigan landscape of my childhood are woven with narratives of genealogy and gender, memory and mythology, time and space.

"My creative language is one of metaphors, and my studio work suggests connections between things that may not, on a surface level, seem to be related. Relationships and contradictions exist on microcosmic and macrocosmic levels: the earth vs. the sun, mother vs. father, man vs. nature, human vs. the universe. Through photography, video, sculpture, and writing, my research manifests into work that combines elements of science, nature, and personal history."

Person submerged in still water wearing a dark blue beanie, with coniferous forest and overcast sky reflected behind them
Person crouched in shallow water holding large curved tusks or horns from a hunted animal in an Alaskan wilderness setting
A person wearing a red and white patterned sweater and black beanie lies on brown earth, resting their head on their arm
Person in plaid shirt holding freshly caught geese in snowy landscape for Clare Benson's The Shepherd's Daughter series
Person in brown hat holding a freshly caught rabbit in snow, shot from above, from Clare Benson's The Shepherd's Daughter series
Person in white clothing performing a backbend in a dense forest with green foliage and moss-covered ground
Figures in dark clothing stand in snow surrounded by tall tree trunks in a winter forest landscape
Overhead view of two snow-covered boots with mesh panels, photographed from above on white snow
Person surrounded by bright green fern fronds, looking upward through dense forest foliage
Overhead view of a dark reddish-brown animal organ in a white tray with pale antlers extending from either side on soil
Person crouching in shallow, partially frozen water on a snowy beach, wearing a dark jacket and brown hat
A person lies on a wooden bench beneath exposed wooden beams in a sparse, shadowy interior space
A person wearing an orange beanie and glasses carries the carcass of a hunted deer through a snowy forest of bare trees
Two people sit atop a large deer head sculpture loaded onto a trailer through a densely forested landscape
Young woman wearing a green beanie and plaid shirt carries a large deer head across her shoulders in a forested setting
Person in red plaid jacket and grey beanie sits alone in a dark, industrial space holding a hunting rifle
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