"I am on a voyage of discovery. I search for those of you who will go on a great adventure... if you are one of those audacious few willing to dare and then to share... then come with me."
-William H. Danforth
There is a place a few miles off the highway on the coast of Western Michigan that is made up of sand dunes and songs, earnest young women and tall coniferous trees. For six weeks every summer girls come from all over the world, drawn here by family legacy, friendly recommendation or the desire to adventure far from home. They are momentarily isolated from external influences by geographic boundaries and are insulated by economic circumstance. In this fairy-tale-like oasis they play and grow, creating a space of free and open exchange that often reflects upon the big bad wolves in the wider world.
These photographs preserve the fleeting magical moments of that place and conceal the broader context of their making. The girls construct the particular components of their environment through sharing interpretations of their individual experiences just as these images provide a structure over which another narrative develops. One that is fluid and incomplete. Serving only as an entry point into an intensely affecting world they provide no concrete answers. A single explanation for this place does not exist, nor should it. Unable to transport you into this world, each photograph instead begins a story that only you can finish.
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