These pieces are made from stills from the History Channel television show “Alone” featuring one of the most well-known Southern contestants. History’s “Alone” brings self-identified outdoorsmen into remote landscapes (often touted as being untouched) to live out a survivalist fantasy; however, just like the 18th and 19th century outdoorsmen we have focused on in our other work, these contestants also happens to be very bad at surviving outdoors.

The contestant in the first piece, Shawn makes a “hot tub” (in his words) out of a found boat and a few inches of dirty water. In the process he loses his flint and has to go home. In the second, Keith gives himself a tattoo with an animal bone he found and some unidentified berries, gets sick, and has to go home. The piece is made using the same laser-cut ghillie leaf pattern in our other work, on printed polysilk. The technique applies camouflage to the contestant, allowing his poor skills and the reason for his departure from the show to be obscured.

This piece was made for Vinegar Projects and was shown at the University of Wyoming Art Museum.