jamie kripke: the divide
“Two raindrops land, inches from each other on a high mountain ridge. One drop travels to the Pacific Ocean, the other to the Atlantic. The Continental Divide is an unwavering wedge that drives two similar things thousands of miles apart.” — Jamie Kripke, The Divide
Jamie Kripke’s latest art project, The Divide, is a series of photographs inspired by the ways that both nature and humanity are divided, and where they overlap. Though each piece is built out of a photograph he made of the Continental Divide in Colorado, those images were made quite a way into the evolution of the project. His original inspiration came from Steve Carrier’s podcast Home of the Brave, in which Carrier travels to Colorado to interview Trump supporters in an effort to understand their point of view.
“Ultimately, it was this idea that two raindrops that are essentially the same can fall on a ridge, and by a wild act of fate, end up thousands of miles apart—the same way that two people born in the same town, on the same street, or in the same family, can end up thousands of miles apart, ideologically,” Jamie wrote on his blog.
He spent months researching divisions and convergence through Venn diagrams, infographics, color theory and how and why a particular color is associated with a group or ideology, and thinking about what seemingly polar opposite groups, for example Bohemian Grove and Burning Man, have in common.
“What does it look like when two groups are pushed to opposite ends of the spectrum, but still have a few places where they overlap?” he asked himself.
The answer manifested as a series of 23 limited edition prints, which were on display in a joint exhibition titled Convergence. The show included four water-based monoprints Jamie made at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass.
In his blog, Jamie dives deep into the process of this series, describing in his own words and many images the evolution of The Divide, offering an engaging glimpse into the artist’s mind. Read more here.