Daniel Cheek

Wyoming, Utah, and the greater western American high desert area encompasses constant
contradictions. It is a paradise of natural wonder and a land to be utilized for extraction and
recreation. The area’s extreme visual beauty and wild dangers perfectly summarize the dual
definitions of the sublime. The influential 16 th Century philosopher Edmund Burke stated “terror
is in all cases whatsoever … the ruling principle of the sublime”; In recent usage we generally
think of the sublime as something beautiful and soothing. I have often felt both terror and peace
in this wilderness. My photographs document that intersection of sublime wilderness
and human interference. I photograph how people access the land and how that experience is often a
mediated experience.