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PHOTO BY DINA MISHEV
Introducing the Women of Wyoming to the World.
// By dina mishev
What would you do if you had no limits? The great, great-granddaughter of Wyoming homesteaders, photographer Lindsay Linton Buk asked herself that question in 2014 and came up with the idea for Women in Wyoming, a multimedia project featuring portraits, profiles, and interviews of women across the state. Between 2016 and 2018, Buk, who grew up in Powell, photographed and interviewed twenty-two artists, politicians, ranchers, writers, business women, and community stewards like Casper’s Nimi McConigley, the first woman of color to run a TV news station and the first Indian-born person in the country to be elected to state government; Lynette St. Clair, a Shoshone linguist, cultural preservationist, and education consultant on the Wind River Reservation; Rita Watson, a Black woman who grew up in the Jim Crow South and today is the longest-serving employee at the Wyoming Department of Education (she started at the department in 1974); and Lauren Gurney, Wyoming’s only female Army MEDEVAC pilot and the owner of Jackson Hole Cake Company. When deciding on the women to include, Buk says she looked for those who energized her and about whom she was curious to know. “Each subject was a huge investment of time—between forty and fifty hours—so I had to be 100 percent on board to tell this woman’s story and share the wisdom she has collected,” she says.
Portraits from Women in Wyoming were on display at Cody’s Buffalo Bill Center of the West from October 2019 to August 2020, and then moved to the University of Wyoming. The exhibit makes its way to Jackson late this summer before beginning a national tour. “In a state as rural as Wyoming, we’re often isolated, so it is vital for women everywhere to see their peers here and the important work they’re doing,” Buk says. Look for the Women in Wyoming podcast, which includes edited conversations between Buk and each of the twenty-two subjects, in your favorite podcast app.
See the portraits and profiles online at womeninwyoming.com. JH
Because she drove more than 10,000 miles across the state while working on Women in Wyoming, we consider Buk an authority on scenic drives in the state. Here are four of her favs that aren’t in Jackson Hole.
U.S. 16 from Ten Sleep to Buffalo over Powder River Pass is absolutely gorgeous.
Outside of Cody, the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (shown above) into Sunlight Basin is so scenic, and many people don’t know about it.
Wyoming 28 from Lander to Farson goes up and over the Wind River Mountains and down into the desert. I love the transition from mountains to big open spaces.
The Wind River Canyon between Thermopolis and Shoshone is great for people who enjoy geology.
three local instagram accounts lindsay loves
@carrie_patterson and I are alumnae of the same photo school (Northwest College), and she was the first photographer to hire me when I was in school. Her wedding photos are beautiful and timeless.
The work of @jimmychin allows me to escape to faraway places.
@ikiseek is so creative. He’s a Balinese transplant and has an artful and original perspective in capturing Wyoming.