Valley of the Flowers

The Bozeman Trail was an overland route connecting the gold rush territory of Montana to the Oregon Trail. Its most important period was from 1863–68. Despite its name, "the major part of the route in Wyoming used by all Bozeman Trail travelers in 1864 flowing of pioneers and settlers through territory of American Indians which provoked resentment and future wars. The challengers to the route were newly arrived Lakotas and their Indian allies, the Arapahoe and the Cheyenne. The United States put emphasis on a right to "establish roads, military and other posts" as described in Article 2 in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. All parties in the conflict had signed that treaty. The Crow Indians held the treaty right to the contested area and had called it their homeland for decades. The U.S. Army undertook several military campaigns against the hostile Indians to try to control the trail. The project The Valley of the Flowers is named after the city of Bozeman and a contemporary reflection upon a racially segregated area of land. Taken on film, the work was created using tripods, a method that both slows the pace of image-making down whereby enabling a greater engagement with its subjects.