Photographs / Year and gathering
A history of
showing up.
Land, weather, shared meals, and the people who made room for one another.
The archive honors what was lived. The story belongs to the person.
Browse the years
An eye from within
the community.
Matt is an initiated Veteran who came through Ceremony of Return in 2025. He returned as an Assistant to Ceremony in 2026, bringing his photographer’s eye to the land and the details of the passage.
These ten selections are his photographs from that work.
Meet Matt and his work (opens in a new tab)
2026 / On the land · May
A wide view of a basalt coulee wall above sagebrush beneath a blue and clouded sky. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
Sunlit basalt cliffs and sagebrush beneath broad clouds, with a fence at the right edge. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
A narrow dirt path through sagebrush beside a basalt wall under dark clouds. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
A wooden staff lies beside gathered objects, antlers, and greenery on grass. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
Black-and-white photograph of a staff and gathered objects resting on grass. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
A long wooden staff extends across grass from a grouping of antlers, feathers, and other objects. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
A black composition notebook rests on grass near gathered green branches and yellow flowers. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
A purple flower blooms among pale leaves and branching shrubs. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
A tall wooden staff stands above gathered objects and antlers in the coulee, beneath blue sky and clouds. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
Black-and-white photograph of sagebrush and a basalt coulee wall beneath clouds. Photograph by Matt Johnston.
2023 / Coulees, September
Two hands hold a closed notebook and a pen.
Blue, rose and pale gold clouds spread above sagebrush and basalt cliffs.
A seated person gestures with open hands while another sits behind them in open country.
2022 / Ceremony of Return
Two people embrace outdoors.
Two people embrace outdoors; a person wearing a patterned headband is visible in profile.
A person seated outdoors gestures with both hands while holding a small stone.
A small group stands in a circle in a sunlit meadow beside tall trees.
A person smiles outdoors in warm sunlight.
A group stands close together with arms around one another beneath trees.
2018 / WA Vets Vision Fast
Basalt cliffs, water and a distant camp beneath a broad evening sky.
A river winds between basalt cliffs and open grassland.
Two people in rain clothing sit beneath a blue tarp.
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