Responding to three years of pandemic uncertainty, ‘Sanctuary / Purgatory’ arose from the simple demand: stay away from people. Retreating to state parks and nature preserves to photograph, a different kind of research emerged. A research contemplating human interaction with the natural world, ultimately that world itself without intervention for human pleasure. 'Sanctuary’ originates from an unexpected visit to the Bay Beach Nature Center in Green Bay, WI where injured raptors, unable to return to the wild, live out their lives in human designed enclosures. ‘Purgatory’ responds to the compounded global crises of the past three years, the inability to move on, and turning to the natural world to observe another scale of time.
-Thomas Hellstrom 2023