As I was spending time in the town talking with people about the project, they would tell me stories about their own encounters with animals in their backyards. Many interactions seemed to occur with great regularity, but people would light up when they talked about them. The situations were common, but each story was relayed with a sense of wonder and fascination that hinted at a deeper connection. I began to realize something far more primal and mystical was happening in this town.

The stories were the driving force behind both the images and my approach to the work, but it was the crucial themes of the domestic space and the process of domestication that transformed the project. The connection to these themes became more obvious as I explored the area where these encounters were taking place. That space was often a transition zone where houses and lawns ended and the wilder, animal-inhabited area began. A space where the domestic sought connection with the wild and the wild sought the spoils of the domesticated.

~ Amy Stein @ The Rumpus