July 12, 2014 through August 05, 2014

Ken Hochfeld • They Call It Home

They Call It Home
The Southeastern Utah Collection

“They Call It Home: The Southeastern Utah Collection” is a photo documentary about the people of San Juan County, Utah produced in 1972-1973. The project began as an ancillary to a larger oral history project under the direction of Dr. Gary L. Shumway, a native son of Blanding, Utah and history professor at California State University Fullerton where Ken Hochfeld was an undergraduate studying photo journalism and photography as art. By the time it was completed, the photography project had become something special on its own. These photographs were recently given a renewed life when the two men decided to publish a book of this work accompanied by Shumway’s personal recollections of many of the people photographed.

Although there was nothing particularly unusual about the people of San Juan County, Utah, there existed a rural American, western lifestyle with a strong commitment to building their lives in the remote and difficult land they shared. These photographs offer a very personal glimpse into the primarily white communities, as well as Navajos on the reservation. The images also tell a universal American story about the nature of our independence, our interdependence, and the powerful pride we take in the places we call home.

After occasionally being talked about for more than 30 years, the book, They Call It Home The Southeastern Utah Collection has now finally become available. Although there is no singular reason why this work took so long to be published as a whole, it is especially rewarding for the authors to see it now, not only because it has become “magically” nostalgic and historically relevant, but also because this collection speaks to our hearts and to our memories of times past in a way that reminds us of the collective spirit of our national heritage.

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