Betsy Banks

Tangled In Decision

I struggle when making life decisions that require commitment and a leap into the unknown. Blocked by a tangle of confusion and a fog of uncertainty, I analyze multiple options and uncover risks in each possibility. I never choose one. Instead, I freeze – stuck in the fear of being trapped in a wrong decision.

A couple of looming crossroads recently re-surfaced this clenched place of fragmented and repetitive thinking. I wanted to explore this response to indecision in hopes of loosening its grip. Feeling grounded in nature, I went searching for symbols of my inner world.

The work that emerged is laced with a sense of loss from decisions made by me not making them. Leaps never taken. How many parallel lives evaporated while I stood still, waiting for the guaranteed right choice to somehow appear? Through this project, I’ve grown to understand more deeply that staying cautiously stuck in my mind doesn’t keep me safe. The risk is not stepping into the unknown; the risk is staying frozen while the opportunity disappears forever. The inherent complexity of the natural world reminds me that I am part of a much larger story – one that rarely reveals itself with clarity. It is the leap that moves the story forward.

: Tangled

: Exposed

: Looking Back

: Lost

: Confusion

: Dusk

: Adrift

: Separate

: Gone

: Uncertainty

: Never

: Impasse

: Frozen

: Longing

: Precipice

: Standstill

: Crossroads

: Should Have

: Consequences

: If Only

About

Betsy Banks is an educator and photographer whose work explores place and connection to the natural world. She often uses multiples to investigate and reveal pattern, transformation, and association. Intrigued by the relationship between people and place, Betsy studied anthropology and environmental science (BA Bowdoin College/MS Miami University) and has focused her career on experiential education, conservation, and community engagement – interests which also inform her photography. Currently located in northeast Ohio, Betsy works at a university civic engagement center, coordinating educational programs that connect college students and the Cleveland community. To share her love of photography, Betsy serves on the steering committee of an organization that promotes photographic arts in Cuyahoga Valley National Park and works as a teaching assistant for Doug Johnson Photography Workshops, exploring beautiful, wild places through photography.