the Petrified Forest National Park in Northeast Arizona protects one of the largest deposits of petrified wood in the world. despite stern warnings, visitors remove several tons of it from the park each year, often returning the rocks by mail (sometimes years later), accompanied by a “conscience letter” which often includes stories of misfortune attributed directly to their theft: car troubles, cats with cancer, deaths of family members, etc

some writers hope that by returning these stolen rocks, good fortune will return to their lives, while others simply apologise or ask forgiveness. Bad Luck, Hot Rocks documents this ongoing phenomenon, combining a series of original photographs of these otherworldly “bad luck rocks” with facsimiles of intimate, oddly entertaining letters from the park’s archives