Sasha Lyth: Blueprints to the Wilderness

Blueprints to the Wilderness is an ongoing body of work created in direct collaboration with remote wilderness landscapes. Made primarily on location in the backcountry of California's Eastern Sierras, the work investigates the profound connection between human experience and wild places, and the ways in which those places shape our emotional, spiritual, and ancestral identities. View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize The foundation of this series lies in immersion. Cyanotypes were exposed upon vast expanses of granite, using plants carefully foraged, pressed, and dried. Silk fibers were dyed in an eco pot utilizing rust water and plants collected on site. These pigments were unexpected, impossible to control, and ultimately became part of the visual language of the work. Sunlight, weather, terrain, and chance were not simply influences on the work, they were active participants in its creation. Through this process, this body of work is very much a collaboration between myself and the environment. While some of the earlier pieces in this series were created in the Trinity Alps, the majority were created at an undisclosed location deep within the Eastern Sierras, a place my family has returned to for more than five decades, and where both my grandfather's and mother's ashes were scattered. Over the course of three summers I spent several weeks alone at this location, processing grief, connecting to the space, and creating. Returning to this landscape, not just as a solo backpacker, but with the intent to create something of magnitude, became an act of remembrance as much as artistic inquiry. The resulting pieces carry traces of personal history while reflecting broader questions about belonging, inheritance, and our relationship to the natural world. Conceptually influenced by the visual language of sacred objects, these works are intended to function as contemporary relics. They are, quite literally, artifacts infused with the physical presence of place. They hold this energy in their fibers, in color and in scent. Natural dyes, botanical impressions, gold, and weathered surfaces evoke reverence while honoring the quiet grandeur of wilderness, from fragile alpine wildflowers to vast expanses of granite and sky. For me, these landscapes are places of pilgrimage and contemplation, experiences not unlike entering a cathedral. At a time when even the most remote landscapes face increasing pressure from human use, Blueprints to the Wilderness also serves as an act of witness. The work acknowledges both our desire to experience wild places and our responsibility to protect them. While each piece originates from a specific location, the sites themselves remain undisclosed in order to preserve their relative solitude and ecological integrity. Ultimately, these works are offerings. They are records of encounters with places that continue to shape my understanding of what it means to be human. They invite viewers to consider wilderness not as scenery or resource, but as something sacred: a living presence worthy of reverence, reciprocity, and care. TAGGED CYANOTYPE, NATURE