Richard K. Kent

I have worked intermittently on the series Patch of Woods for over a decade—first using black and white and then color, medium-format film. Increasingly, the images I make are from digital captures, as is the case for quite a few of the pictures in the exhibition. The series offers views of Landis Woods, a 70-acre tract of public woods in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, that constitutes a fragile ecosphere hemmed in by development and threatened by climate change. During the pandemic, Landis Woods became a refuge for a larger and more diverse community of visitors; and it has remained that way. I record what I encounter in the woods: an artifact from a bygone era; the occasional portrait that may result from a meeting and conversation with another trail walker; objects or structures deliberately left behind by others, whether a lean-to or something more curious; things lost; and the inevitable litter or vandalism one finds in a public space. I also document what occurs along the woods' edge, including work on the neighboring farm or the continuing pressure of new houses built along its borders. The future of the woods as a viable habitat is precarious. Recently, the farm along its southern edge has been sold and is slated for development. As rapid development quickly erases signs of the agrarian past surrounding the park, I’m also far more aware that Landis Woods is located in a township where all indigenous names, other than that of the Conestoga River, have been erased.

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Ten pictures from the series were included in the solo exhibition Layered Time: Photographs at Lancaster Galleries​ in Lancaster, PA (August 11-September 3, 2022).

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Twenty-seven pictures from the series were included in the solo exhibition Passing Days / Passing Strange in the Winter Visual Arts Center, Franklin & Marshall College (March 6 - 28, 2025).