Photo du Jour: The Lone Bison

For Mythology, photographer Luke Casey explores our national identity through the lens of Montana’s historic Yellowstone National Park. Examining the nuances of the folklore and traditional narratives that color our sense of America, he offers a portrait of home and country that is both gripping and unidealized, expressive yet sober.

On his journey, Casey came across herds of bison, animals used often to symbolize the American spirit. Knowing the tragic history of the American bison, whose once-thriving population of an estimated 50 million was hunted near to extinction by the end of the 19th century, Casey framed the lone bison in the context of mankind, as represented by the car window. Unlike in Albert Bierstadt’s great American painting “Last of the Buffalo,” Casey’s bison is resigned in the face of the vehicle, whose rearview mirror reflects a blurred and empty landscape, absent of the herds that once roamed free.

Image © Luke Casey