Michi Meko USA, b. 1973

Michi Meko has always been interested in the languages of wilderness spaces—those within himself and the natural world alike. In preparation to make his works for Realms of Refuge, Meko ventured out on hikes and camping and fishing trips, taking field notes and exploring whether he could personify nature as much as the typically white male voices that dominate the genre of nature writing, such as Whitman, Theoreau, and Muir. “I was curious enough to ask myself what it means when we turn ourselves from gazing outward at a mountaintop or a valley, inward towards whatever mountaintop or valley is in ourselves,” says Meko. “I wondered, is the transcendent moment the scenery, or the view? Or is it the inward reflection that appears to be an outward gaze?”