PAUL TILTON
Still Forces
Paul Tilton photographs Florida’s natural landscapes as places in constant, subtle motion. Tides recede. Clouds move across the sky. Water rises after rainfall. In Still Forces, Tilton attunes to the subtle energies at work in the landscapes that surround us, revealing a natural world worth protecting.
Guided tours available Wednesday through Saturday. Please reserve ahead.
Radical Stillness
Essay by Jovian Browne
In a world that never sits still, the practice of going into nature and spending any amount of time simply observing can seem like a radical act. We are drawn toward activity, drama, urgency, and constant stimulation. What use would a slow walk in the forest even have? In Japanese culture, there is a practice called shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing,” used to realign us with the subtle energies of nature—with profound effects on tranquility, clarity, and well-being.
Siesta
Hand-printed silver gelatin photograph
Limited Edition Series of 50
Artist Paul Tilton has built an entire artistic practice around immersing himself in nature and communicating the energies he finds through his work.
A Florida native and conservationist, Tilton has spent years returning to the state’s rivers, coastlines, and wetlands. He does not begin with a fixed image in mind. Instead, he wanders. He follows what he calls an “unconscious attraction” to particular trees, rocks, waterways, and changing conditions of light. Often, he returns to the same place many times, waiting for the landscape to reveal something.
Tilton works with a large-format film camera and a small aperture, allowing him to capture landscapes with extraordinary depth and detail. Even at a monumental scale, there is always more to discover. In Siesta, a receding tide reveals a dimpled shoreline, rendered with such clarity that every impression in the sand can be felt. In RD, a flooded road mirrors an arc of trees, creating an immersive field for attention. As every inch of the image is in focus, the eye is free to explore every corner with equal clarity. The viewer can move through these photographs as one moves through a physical landscape. Whether looking near or far, above or below, there is always something new to find.
Time is also embedded in these photographs. Tilton may position his camera at low tide, during a moonrise, or beneath a particular full moon that appears only once a year. He opens the shutter for a long exposure and waits. As the exposure unfolds, the landscape continues to move: water shifts, clouds pass, and light moves across the earth. A single photograph holds these subtle transitions together, making visible forces that might otherwise pass unnoticed.
Tilton’s process continues in the darkroom, where he develops each large-format negative and prints every silver gelatin photograph by hand. Each print is a reinterpretation of the negative. Working with light, Tilton discovers new qualities in the image each time he prints, making each photograph within the limited edition unique.
Paul Tilton develops a hand-made silver gelatin print of RD taken in Myakka State Park.
The exhibition Still Forces invites us into Tilton’s practice of radical stillness. To enter into his landscapes is an opportunity to reconnect with the natural world—a world worth observing, worth feeling, and worth protecting. ▫️
Book a tour
Reserve time to meet personally with the curator of this exhibition. Convene for your tour at the Salon located in the Station House lobby across from Bad Mother