Dec, 17, 2024
PhotographySpecial Engagement Exhibitions
Phoenix Art Museum presents major photography exhibition examining urgent environmental concerns through the camera lens
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape promotes awareness of ecological issues through contemporary photographic representations of the environment
PHOENIX (December 17, 2024) – In the spring, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) will present Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape, an expansive photography exhibition that features the work of nearly 20 contemporary artists examining environmental history and degradation, particularly in the American landscape, as well as urgent concerns about climate change, through the camera lens. Organized by Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Widening the Lens invites viewers to reconsider their relationship to the environment and explore how photography can help envision new paths forward. Widening the Lens will be on view at Phoenix Art Museum from February 26 – June 15, 2025.
“We are excited to bring Widening the Lens to Phoenix in continuation of the Museum’s long history of presenting thought-provoking programming centered on the environment and American landscape to our audiences,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Widening the Lens is a particularly compelling opportunity to explore contemporary artists’ use of photography to expand our understanding of the natural world, its history, and the ways in which people impact it, both positively and negatively. The exhibition will provide an intriguing counterpoint to the landscape works on view in our American art galleries, offering insight into how perceptions and the reality of the American landscape have changed through time.”
Featuring nearly 65 works by 18 lens-based artists, including black-and-white images and sculptural installations, Widening the Lens defies traditional conceptions of photography to infuse the landscape with a greater awareness of histories, natural forces, and inhabitants going back thousands of years. The exhibition is arranged across four thematic 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.
“I am delighted to share this powerful and richly layered exhibition with our audiences here in Arizona,” said Emilia Mickevicius, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography at Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. “Widening the Lens features a phenomenal and diverse roster of artists who are working at critical intersections of landscape with history, identity, and climate change. Together, they present a thrillingly expansive take on the potential of landscape photography. I hope that experiencing the exhibition in our setting of the Sonoran Desert will inspire visitors to look at our surrounding landscape with fresh eyes.”
Featured artists in the exhibition include:
- A.K. Burns
- Chanell Stone
- David O. Alekhuogie
- David Hartt
- Dionne Lee
- Edra Soto
- Erin Jane Nelson
- Fazal Sheikh
- Justine Kurland
- Lucy Raven
- Mark Armijo McKnight
- Melissa Catanese
- Raven Chacon
- Sam Contis
- Sky Hopinka
- Tomás Saraceno
- Victoria Sambunaris
- Xaviera Simmons
High-resolution photography for Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape can be downloaded here. To request interviews, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2117 or samantha.santos@phxart.org.
About the Exhibition
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape is organized by Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh and curated by Dan Leers, Curator of Photography, with Keenan Saiz, 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.
The exhibition’s presentation at Phoenix Art Museum 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.
Admission is free for Museum Members; youth aged 5 and younger; and Maricopa County Community Colleges students. Entrance into the exhibition is included in general admission for the public. Visitors may also enjoy reduced admission to the exhibition during voluntary-donation times on Wednesdays from 3 – 8 pm, made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix. For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, see phxart.org/visit/.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, an art+music festival, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.