ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape examines environmental history and degradation, particularly in the American landscape, as well as our ecological present and future. Featuring a range of works by more than 15 contemporary lens-based artists, including black-and-white images and immersive installations, the exhibition offers a compelling view into ecological trauma, our personal and collective relationships to land, and how photography can help us envision paths forward.
Justine Kurland, Broadway (Joy), 2001; © Justine Kurland. Courtesy of the artist.
The exhibition is arranged according to four themed sections. Archive challenges dominant narratives established in historical photographs. Remembering delves into nature as a memorial landscape, charged with the complexity of human identity and personal relationships. Pathfinding features works of art that illuminate human adaptability, complicity, and paralysis in the environment. Finally, Horizon looks toward the future and considers environmental anxiety, anticipation, possibility, and alternative paths forward.
Altogether, Widening the Lens presents a multi-faceted picture of intersections of landscape photography with themes of identity, climate change, and political life, offering multiple points of entry into these globally relevant issues.
Victoria Sambunaris, Untitled (Dune buggy), All American Canal, CA, 2021; © Victoria Sambunaris. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York
Header: Installation view of Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (May 11, 2024–January 12, 2025), featuring works by Xaviera Simmons
EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape is organized by the Carnegie Museum of Art and curated by Dan Leers, curator of photography, with Keenan Saiz, former Hillman Photography Initiative project curatorial assistant. The exhibition’s presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Emilia Mickevicius, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography at Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography.
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape is made possible through the generosity of The William Talbott Hillman Foundation, The Henry L. Hillman Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Henry Luce Foundation, The Teiger Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts.
All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
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Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape
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