shashasha

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, after decades of documenting and critiquing the conditions in America’s cities through her photography, Mimi Plumb created this compelling series of portraits of horses. Each summer, she traveled from San Francisco to Kings Canyon, Utah, to spend time with a herd of horses, to move with them, to watch and observe. Wary of the dangers of cliche, Plumb took the time to gradually grow closer to her subjects, both mentally and physically. Some of her shots of the wild horses are taken from such close distances that they are shown only in fragments. Through her eye, the horses appear as more than animals; they become nature and landscape, symbols of tenderness and longing.

“The horses sleep lying down, legs twitching, mouths wrapped around blades of grass. The flies are attracted to their moist, flickering eyes. I’m as close as I can focus, examining their faces, tails, hooves and bellies, bewitched by the sensuality of horse and place (…)
Late in the afternoon, the horses abruptly leave the meadow in a single line. I race after them through a swamp of thick mud and dead trees and branches which scratch my arms. They trot and canter, moving faster than they’ve moved all day. I can’t catch up to them. When I reach the edge of the main riverbank, I see the last of the horses cautiously step into the deep, swift-moving water, and slowly float to the other side.”
― from Mimi Plumb’s statement