Back to Journal
Cowboy State creator Lindsay Linton Buk takes a broader, more dynamic view of women in Wyoming.
Written by Jenn Thornton
To create her first large-scale work Women in Wyoming: Portraits and Interviews of Women Who Shape the West—a project that includes a traveling physical exhibit, a podcast, and a website—its creator and photographer Lindsay Linton Buk did a bit of traveling herself, literally thousands of miles to meet women she calls some of Wyoming’s “changemakers, rulebreakers, and community leaders” and tell their stories.
Considering that she is a woman of Wyoming herself, slotting nicely into the very classifications she describes, Lindsay is in good company. Her roots run deep in the state where her ancestors originally settled in 1878, ranching for a handful of years before moving into the small-business sector. Her father owns Big R Ranch and Home in Jackson, Wyoming, which serves the local ranching and agricultural community (“I credit my dad for instilling in me the importance of serving one’s community through one’s business pursuits,” Lindsay says); and her mother is an East Coast native who exposed her to the broader world. “My aesthetic eye comes from my mom,” she adds. “I credit her for nurturing my sense of adventure and love of learning. She continues to be my right hand for the project.”
My aesthetic eye comes from my mom. I credit her for nurturing my sense of adventure and love of learning. She continues to be my right hand for the project.
Lindsay Linton Buk
That project is tailor-made for Lindsay who, like its subjects, goes her own way. From the time she was a small child, Lindsay shares, “I knew a traditional 9-5 career path was not for me, though I also didn’t think of myself as an artist until much later in life.” A classically trained dancer with professional dreams, Lindsay found in photography “a path to have more agency, utilize my intellect and be creative.” Photography, she says, fuses her collegiate studies in history and geography with her drive to learn about people, their backgrounds and culture, with storytelling and visuals.
After going back to school for photography in her hometown of Powell, Wyoming, Lindsay moved on to New York City, ultimately landing back in Wyoming. “When you are a creative or an entrepreneur, the path is not linear,” Lindsay concedes. “I’ve found my best successes and doors opening have come from staying curious, not being afraid to make a cold call or new connection, and taking action out of ideas and visions. The hardest part is starting, and when I moved back to Wyoming in 2013, I had to completely start over.” Now a mother of two young sons, Lindsay adds, “I’m less interested in building everything myself and more called towards partnership. That’s the path of an artist and creative. You never stop learning and reinventing yourself.”
I’ve found my best successes and doors opening have come from staying curious, not being afraid to make a cold call or new connection, and taking action out of ideas and visions.
Self-reinvention is a running theme in the West and, in Lindsay’s view, Wyoming in particular. “In a broad sense, throughout Wyoming’s history, its women have been brave, strong, and impactful,” she says. “In 1869, Wyoming became the first territory in the United States to recognize women’s right to vote and hold office. Because of this landmark decision, Wyoming also gave the country its first female jurors, bailiff, Justice of the Peace, and Governor in the years that followed.” It’s precisely this history that motivates Lindsay to, as she puts it, “leave my state better for my kids and future generations.” It also means a sense of discovery. “Even though my family history goes back to the late 1800s,” there are still many places across this vast state I have yet to explore. That’s a big reason why I created Women in Wyoming—I wanted to know how my peers were impacting Wyoming for the better, to explore my home state on a deep level, and share what I learned with others. Wyoming is small in population, which translates to stepping up and utilizing your unique skills and talents however you can. That’s the Wyoming way.”
From this, her project was born. “There is something to learn from Wyoming women and what it takes to live life fully in a uniquely wild, often isolating place where resources can be scarcer,” Lindsay says. “From herding sheep in the Wind River mountains to flying in the back of a Blackhawk helicopter piloted by Wyoming’s only female MEDEVAC pilot, the women you see in this exhibit hold up a mirror for how we see ourselves, our potential, and our power to be the creators of our world.”As a creator of her immediate world, Lindsay is, along with a new crop of makers, doers and thinkers in the American West, helping pioneer its future. “I do feel great intention around adding to the iconography of the American West, Wyoming’s history and the cultural history of the West by creating this project,” she says. “Too often, women’s voices and stories have been excluded throughout history. My goal is to create a new perspective of how we picture Wyoming, the West, and its women. Our future is always ours to create.”
Photographs courtesy of Lindsay Linton Buk
