The Meadow
Emily Dickinson wrote that all it takes to make a prairie is “one clover, and a bee. / And revery.” It turns out that to know a prairie (or meadow) is a bit more complicated, as photographer Barbara Bosworth and writer Margot Anne Kelley have discovered.
For more than a decade, Bosworth and Kelley have meandered in, studied, and photographed a single meadow in Carlisle, Massachusetts. In addition to their own investigations, they have invited botanists, entomologists, naturalists and historians to consider the meadow with them.
Also included are historic maps of the property dating to the 1800s, and a transcription of notes from a former owner whose family has continuously documented plant and bird life in the meadow from 1931 until the 1960s.
Shortlisted for Paris Photo - Aperture Photo Book of the Year Prize, 2016
“This beautifully produced book, which examines a small plot of meadow, is a real gem. From misty autumnal landscapes to spring flowers, all seasons are celebrated. These images are supplemented with a fine text, assorted inventories and thorough appendixes of things like what birds were spotted with their dates. It is very re-assuring that one small plot can be so lovingly explored and it is the thoroughness of this that makes this book so compelling."
—Martin Parr, TIME Magazine
