In the late 1960’s quite a few people living in the States got fed up with their urban lives and moved to the countryside. Thousands of people got inspired by “pioneers” preaching about good old Mother Earth and moved away from cities to live in rural areas and lead easier simpler. Some back-to-the-land people moved “back” as a response to political concerns, such as in protest to the Vietnam War, while others were sick of societies based on purchasing stuff and just wanted to take it easy.

The back-to-the-land people made their own cottages and heated up their homes with wood. Most of the food was gathered or hunted, and water was accessed from natural sources such as springs and rain. The idea was to live a bit like farmers, but without any pressure from the rest of the world.


Brittiney Swimming, Acorn Community, Virginia 2006

However, living close to the nature wasn’t as easy as people first thought it would be. The back-to-the-land people realised soon that they needed money no matter how much they tried to live without it. Living off nature appeared to be quite a difficult thing to do without any access to things you normally take for granted, like, well pretty much everything you have at home. Therefore, by the end of the 1970’s, a lot of people decided to move back to the cities. Although some people stayed with nature, making money doing creative stuff, like writing and painting, most of the back-to-the-land people moved back to the cities again by the 1980’s

Natalie Making a Bow-Drill Friction Fire, Wildroots Homestead, North Carolina 2007

Lucas Foglia is a contemporary photographer who grew up on a farm in Long Island where his parents were influenced by the back-to-the-land movement. His family grew their own food and heated with wood while cities developed around them. 

Nowadays, Lucas lives in contact with urban society; however, through some friends of his family, he has met and documented a network of people in the States who have adopted “wilderness or homesteading” lifestyles. Their natural lifestyles which are responses to environmental issues and societal collapse, seem to be a bit of a utopian version of David Engelbach’s film from 1986, America 3000, and are very similar to the back-to-the-land movement of the 60’s.

Jiana, Wildroots Homestead, North Carolina 2008
Most of the people in Lucas’s photography series Re-Wilding build their own homes of material they can find around them, grow and hunt their own food, and drink water from natural springs. The groups of people which Lucas has photographed live in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia and have various cultural and religious beliefs. However, they all have in common the fact that they have moved to the countryside from cities to live closer to nature.

Alex and Natalie on a Walk, Falling Leaves Rendezvous, Georgia 2007