Created over the course of three years in a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, Pine Flat is Sharon Lockhart's fi rst project to center on a community in the United States. Working without a film crew so that she could better immerse herself in the life of the town, Lockhart has created a formally concise yet exceptionally intimate view of contemporary rural life that focuses on the interactions of the community's children, who engage in everyday activities in stunningly beautiful natural landscapes. The book-conceived as a companion work to the film, sound, and photographic components that comprise the project- includes stills and a series of nineteen large-format portraits inspired in part by the 19th-century American tradition of the portrait photographer. Although remarkably personal, these images transcend individual specificity to approach the status of archetypes, evoking a wide range of art historical references, from Edouard Manet to August Sander.