Carl Corey
Carl Corey walked 480 miles along the the trail, photographing hidden wonders.
Black Wolf. Lind. Thorp. Withee. If you haven’t heard of these small Wisconsin towns, don’t worry: neither had Carl Corey before he embarked on an ambitious project where he traversed all 480 miles of our state’s historic Yellowstone Trail — on foot.
The result of Corey’s journey is an impressive photographic exhibit, Along the Yellowstone Trail, which is on display in both galleries of Madison’s Arts + Literature Laboratory through Dec. 2.
The trail, created in 1913 as a cross-country automobile route running through multiple states, cuts from the city of Hudson in the west through the mid-center of the state, before taking a southward plunge outside of Appleton where it trails southeast before leaving the state in Kenosha.
Corey, an award-winning photographer from River Falls, says he first saw the project as a much-needed exercise in simplicity after completing two book-length collections, For Love and Money (which features Wisconsin business owners), and Tavern League: Portraits of Wisconsin Bars.
“After I finished those books, I just wanted to loosen up, and just take a smaller camera to observe things — that’s what I do.
“I did [the walk] because I do a lot of large-format documentary work,” adds Corey, noting he undertook the trek in 2012-13 and completed it in six different segments, walking 15 miles each day. Although Corey’s approach may have been uncomplicated — he brought only a single camera and lens — his results are far from it. The 122 lush photographs depict rural and urban Wisconsin with a careful, uncompromising eye.
One shows a collapsing basketball hoop in an empty lot. In another, a shadowed Milwaukee alley is set starkly against a blue sky. Abandoned gas stations and single-story homes are presented with a delicate, spartan beauty.
Many of Corey’s images evoke a quiet but unmistakable sadness. Corey points out an image from a crumbling filling station where a fading mural depicts an underwater scene with frolicking dolphins. He found the image near the town of Eden, and the irony of the name doesn’t escape him. “Small-town America is hit pretty hard,” says Corey. “It’s rare to find someone in their 30s raising a family in these towns. I would definitely say the populations are way down.”
The project’s ultimate message seems to be one of hope, or at least admiration. Corey brings a soft glow to parts of our state that are often hidden in plain sight.
A striking photograph depicts the side of a green, unkempt building in the city of Milwaukee. The structure is rough, with its two tones of paint chipping in several places, but the light is soft. In black capital letters the phrase “Jesus forgive me for my sins save me” is painted on the wall.
“It was truly a great experience,” says Corey of his time on the trail, “When you drive, you really don’t experience things the same as when you walk; I can honestly say I was uplifted by it.”
