CDT Artist Residency

In 2025 I will hike the Continental Divide Trail as the inaugural Artist in Residence with support from the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. During this time I will continue to expand on my creative research practice that explores the themes of safety and belonging as a queer body moving through “wilderness” spaces.

In 2021 I thru-hiked the 485-mile-long Colorado Trail. Having never backpacked as an adult prior to this trip, in my months of preparation I was most afraid of what it would be like to encounter wild spaces, unknown creatures, and inclement weather during my solo journey. Those fears slid away on trail. Instead, I was most struck by a compulsion to make sense of my queer, femme body in the spaces I passed through and the people I met along the way. Over the years since, and with many more miles of backpacking under my belt, I’ve used my creative practice to investigate this experience.

What is the Continental Divide?

​The headwaters of our nation spring from the Continental Divide. Imagine a line running the entire length of North and South America, from the icy northern reaches of Canada to the Strait of Magellan at the southernmost tip of Chile. This line runs north to south along the very highest elevations of these continents, connecting the peaks of the Rocky Mountains with the Andes in South America.
Rain or snow that falls on these peaks will flow either to the east or to the west down the slopes of these mountain ranges. This flow begins as small trickles that join up to form streams, then swell into roaring rivers that provide nourishment to the land, plants, and animals.
Those first trickles of water that flow to the west of the Continental Divide eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean. The water flowing eastward will someday reach the Atlantic Ocean. In this way, the waters of the continent are divided.
The Continental Divide Trail follows the length of the Continental Divide within the United States. To walk along the trail is to have one foot in the watershed of the Atlantic Ocean and the other in the watershed of the Pacific.