Six Spotted Tiger Beetle

Artist Statement for "Tiny & Wild" Series
The pandemic created many challenges and hardships for all of us. However, it also afforded me the rare opportunity to slow down and take a closer, deeper look at my immediate surroundings. With many of our face-to-face human interactions gone, I instead connected with anoles, frogs, and bugs. Instead of sitting in traffic and running errands, I staked out spiders, skinks, and squirrels. This project began as a way to connect with the wider world while not straying far beyond my backyard. I was able to escape to, and participate in, a tiny world that was largely unaffected by the pandemic. I have continued this project over the last several years and still find comfort in the quiet moments of contemplation that it offers me. Looking at these small life forms and their ecosystems reminds me of how fragile, beautiful, and wild our natural world can be.

About the Artist
Kyle Petersen is an artist and educator based in San Antonio, TX. His photographic interests include roadside trash, lizards, and his two children among many others. He received his B.A. in Studio Art from Bradley University in 2006 and his M.F.A. in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2008. Since then, he has taught photography and digital media at Southern Utah University, The Art Institute of Atlanta, Gwinnett Technical College, and Black Hawk College. He is currently the Upper School Photography Teacher at Saint Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, where his teaching philosophy is centered on joy, puns, and sarcasm.