The Black Rock Desert of Nevada is arguably one of the world's harshest environments for survival. The alkaline dust permeates existence, and unpredictable storms adhere dust to bodies, hair, clothes and adornments.  It is amidst this brutal climate that nearly 50,000 individuals gather for one week of the summer to embrace self- reliance and to participate in the collaborative creation of art and culture.  I was made aware of this particular festal gathering, known as the Burning Man Project, whilst conducting initial interviews for a research project about men's shifting attitudes towards clothing and appearance. My informants incessantly referenced the magnitude of this particular festal gathering, and encouraged me to attend in order to see for myself men's liberation via appearance. I decided to pack my tent, a week's worth of food and water, my diary and camera in order to document the radical self-expression said to take place in this ephemeral Bohemia. It was described to me as a space where seemingly indoctrinated binaries were broken down, and people were freed to explore new perspectives on existence.  Emancipation from the "default world," as it is wittingly termed by attendees, allowed individuals to reconvene with nature through a formal occupation of the desert. I spoke with hundreds of people and took thousands of photographs.

I began to trace associations among people, groups, materials, and space (Latour, 2005). From my conversations and visual analysis of appearance, I noticed a cyclical pattern of simulation of and convergence with nature. Firstly, costuming and manipulation of the body facilitated emancipation from known society (the default world). This took the guise of simulation, which included faux-fur garments, wings tattooed on shoulders, antlers strapped to heads, false canine teeth and feathered adornments, to name a few.  Secondly, appearances embodied a convergence with the conditions of the environment. As I noticed these patterns in my own appearance, I felt myself becoming the desert, and in converging, simulating and reproducing nature.  Ultimately, the Burning Man Project is about people and materials convening with the environment in order to form the social. Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.