Daniel Handal
Jessica at Phillies Bridge Farm, New Paltz
From the series Between Forest and Field
2009
Chromogenic print
20 x 16 inches
Courtesy of the artist
© Daniel Handal

Daniel Handal’s photographs of farmers are part of a larger body of work entitled Between Forest and Field, a reference to the type of landscape that some scientists and philosophers posit as the ancestral habitat for our species. Social scientists have also observed that people from many cultures throughout the world tend to gravitate toward a similar type of ideal landscape, one with trees, open range, and water that also includes people and animals. Neuroscience as well as social science increasingly suggests that we carry many elements of nature at our core. In this photograph, Jessica crouches down among the baby chickens she is helping to raise, affirming her connection with fellow animals and with the source of her food and income.