u/AMLT1983

Three years ago, I decided to make a map of the U.S. out of dirt from every state. It sounded ridiculous, which is usually how my best projects begin.

I wrote letters to state agencies, parks, historical sites, and complete strangers. Some mailed tiny bags of soil. Some included handwritten notes about their state. My son and I even took a road trip to collect the final missing pieces ourselves.
Every bit of soil on this map actually came from the state it represents.

Somewhere along the way, I realized the project stopped being about dirt. It became a map of generosity of strangers, roadtrips with my boy and thousands of miles of American stories.