Laura Gilpin

The lone footprints in sand remind me of when I felt most isolated. I was going into the transitioning years of middle school and I found myself in a global pandemic. One day I was surrounded by friends, family, teachers—anyone. The next day, I was alone in a room that was dark and empty. I was a world apart from others, like the person walking on the sand. I was in my room, trapped in a box on a screen, and felt as if each day was just a loop of the same horrible day, on repeat with no end in sight.

–Repeating Rage, RAC member

Laura Gilpin portrays the Colorado sand dunes in the soft-focus style of the Pictorialists, but the reductive forms of her composition are strikingly modern. The sinuous lines of the wind-sculpted dunes are echoed in the subtle patterning of the figure’s footprints. His presence not only provides a sense of scale, but suggests that the human impact on the landscape can be small, fleeting, and beautiful.