Sylvia Augustus

I am landscape and equine photographer. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis; a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from Cornell University and a Master’s of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. I successfully completed Artist Inc. Kansas City (2016) and Artist Inc. Advanced Kansas City (2017) and I am an ARTSKC Inspiration Grant recipient 2017-2018.

I have been very fortunate that my career allowed me to spend almost five years living and working in Yosemite National Park as a preservation architect. While at Yosemite, my free time was spent taking photographs of the Sierra Nevada area. Prior to Yosemite, my photographic focus was on the built environment. During my tenure at Yosemite my photographic practice shifted from the built environment to landscapes and wildlife.

In 2012 I visited the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary for the first time. I met a Spanish Mustang named Don Juan. I connected instantly with him and to the other rescued horses. Their collective will to survive and the individual journeys they have taken to get to places of “safety” like the Sanctuary have become the main driver for my artwork. Wild American Equine are in peril; their habitat; bloodlines; and societal structures are threatened by overpopulation and public land management policies. My main body of photographic work focuses upon documenting wild American Equine and their struggle for survival. My work is a service to the ... view more »

I am landscape and equine photographer. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis; a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from Cornell University and a Master’s of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. I successfully completed Artist Inc. Kansas City (2016) and Artist Inc. Advanced Kansas City (2017) and I am an ARTSKC Inspiration Grant recipient 2017-2018.

I have been very fortunate that my career allowed me to spend almost five years living and working in Yosemite National Park as a preservation architect. While at Yosemite, my free time was spent taking photographs of the Sierra Nevada area. Prior to Yosemite, my photographic focus was on the built environment. During my tenure at Yosemite my photographic practice shifted from the built environment to landscapes and wildlife.

In 2012 I visited the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary for the first time. I met a Spanish Mustang named Don Juan. I connected instantly with him and to the other rescued horses. Their collective will to survive and the individual journeys they have taken to get to places of “safety” like the Sanctuary have become the main driver for my artwork. Wild American Equine are in peril; their habitat; bloodlines; and societal structures are threatened by overpopulation and public land management policies. My main body of photographic work focuses upon documenting wild American Equine and their struggle for survival. My work is a service to the community at large; sharing a story about how society has failed one of the last great American icons; the wild horse.

My participation in Artist Inc. and Artist Inc. Advanced in Kansas City allowed me to gain important skills and afforded to me very valuable opportunities to work with other artists and arts administrators. These experiences have helped me to put my photographic vision into a tighter focus; creating the Wild Equine Running Free documentation project. WWW.WildEquineRunningFree.com

Sylvia Rose Augustus

Kansas City, Kansas

2017

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