Davenport Landing on the Ocklawaha River, Florida, Aluminum, 2023
Matt Keene: Echoes of the Wild
The opening reception for Echoes of the Wild will take place on Friday, October 03 from 5:30-7:30pm, during First Friday Art Walk.
“My art is a call to preserve the wild spaces that inspire and sustain us. By blending a historical photographic process with modern conservation themes, I aim to remind viewers of the enduring beauty and fragility of our natural world. The hand poured evidence inherent in the collodion process echoes the vulnerability of our own delicate connection to these environments and the urgent need for stewardship.”
– Matt Keene
Echoes of the Wild is an immersive exhibition that brings together the historic artistry of nineteenth-century wet plate collodion photography and a contemporary call for environmental stewardship. Created during backcountry expeditions across the southeastern United States, Matt Keene’s unique images offer intimate, often haunting glimpses of landscapes and wildlife under threat from pollution, climate change, and human development.
Using a portable darkroom and the labor-intensive wet plate collodion process, Keene documents the remote beauty of some of the region’s most biologically rich environments—from Florida’s freshwater springs to the Okefenokee Swamp and the St. Johns River. Each plate is a singular artifact, shaped by the light, weather, and water of the moment it was made. The medium’s inherent imperfections—cracks, streaks, and chemical anomalies—echo the vulnerability of the natural world, offering a poignant metaphor for the fragile and shifting state of the ecosystems it seeks to portray.
By merging a historic photographic technique with urgent conservation themes, Echoes of the Wild bridges past and present to foster a renewed reverence for nature. The exhibition invites viewers to look beyond the image and consider their own relationship with the wild—encouraging not just appreciation, but responsibility. In bearing witness to the beauty and impermanence of these landscapes, Keene seeks to inspire curiosity, compassion, and collective action to protect our shared natural heritage.
About the Artist
Matt Keene is an award-winning journalist, record-setting adventurer, and conservation photographer based in St. Augustine, Florida. His work spans environmental journalism, filmmaking, and photography, with a focus on protecting fragile ecosystems, especially in his home state. His acclaimed short documentaries—such as Lost Springs: An Artist’s Journey into Florida’s Abandoned Springs—blend art, storytelling, and advocacy, earning recognition for his role in efforts to restore the Ocklawaha River.
A seasoned adventurer, Keene has completed over 13 months of long-distance expeditions, hiking more than 3,500 miles, paddling over 2,000 miles, and becoming the first person to finish Florida’s 1,515-mile Circumnavigational Trail. These journeys fuel his dedication to raising awareness of wild places, outdoor recreation, and the urgency of conservation.
In recent years, Keene has turned to wet plate collodion photography, a 19th-century technique he uses to document remote landscapes. With a portable darkroom, he captures images in the backcountry, echoing the early conservation photographers who helped launch the wilderness protection movement. His collodion plates—distinct for their tactile beauty—serve as both art and advocacy, offering a timeless view of nature’s fragility.
Through his photography, writing, and expeditions, Keene connects people to the landscapes and waterscapes that sustain them, inspiring wonder, responsibility, and action.
Oct03 - Jan18
Category: Exhibitions
Gores Landing on the Ocklawaha River, Florida
Aluminum, 2024
About Lightner Local
Created to showcase the extraordinary talents of artists who live in the Northeast and Central Florida regions, Lightner Local is supported by the Benjamin and Jean Troemel Arts Foundation.
