Camp One Heartland

Camp One Heartland is a solo exhibition by Tye DuSold-O’Connor archiving documentation of one of the world’s first nonprofit summer camps designated to supporting and empowering youth affected by HIV and AIDS, eventually transforming into a vital beacon of safety, liberation and eutopia for LGBTQ+ youth across the country. After its inaugural session in the summer of 1993 and many more held at different campsites across the country, Camp One Heartland found its permanent residence in Willow River, Minnesota. Over the next three decades it broadened its reach to provide summer camp sessions for youth experiencing housing instability, LGBTQ+ youth, and specifically trans youth. Tye attended Camp One Heartland as both a camper in 2022 and a counselor in 2024, and found these experiences indescribably transformative to them and their queer identity. Quite suddenly, Camp One Heartland shut down permanently in the fall of 2024 due to financial issues. Former campers, counselors and staff have been unable to return to the site since. While camp counseling in the summer of 2024, Tye took hundreds of photos of the camp, its people, and its experiences. These serve as some of the last images taken during the lifetime of Camp One Heartland. Artist Bio: Tye DuSold-O’Connor is a multimedia artist studying Fine Art and Psychology whose work revolves around trans experience, identity and culture. They are driven by the intimate and the personal, and seek to use vulnerability, the taboo, and joy to help achieve trans liberation. They typically work with illustration, painting, poetry, and printmaking, but found photography to be the ideal medium for this project.