I Am A Wilderness

“I Am a Wilderness” is the deeply personal effort in deciphering the question, “Am I a part of nature? Naked and exposed, where do I fit in?” Completed over a four-week period during the summer of 2015, Leo Serpens ventured to live and photograph himself in and along the humbling shoreline of Lake Superior, the largest and coldest of the Great Lakes. Fumbling bare skin through brambles, climbing trees, and plunging into waters that induced brain-chilling headaches, this project speaks of discovering a wildness that he believes exists at the core of humanity. More than just a series of nudes amongst a diverse flora and fantastical landscape, the decision to utilize self-portraiture invites viewers into a deep visual discussion in which his personal meditations have become the subject. Stretching and folding his body before the timed click of a shutter, Leo Serpens has become the answer that he sets out to understand: “My body and spirit is wild and sincer. In my truest version of self, I am a wilderness.”