Basin|Range | 2008-Present
Landscapes are constructs. They derive from the complex layering of a particular physical geography with the individual and collective narratives of those that inhabit the land. As an artist and photographer, I have been exploring the deserts of America for over a decade. My interest in the desert issues from the idea that traces of events that have taken place on the land remain long after those events have ended. These might be geologic, historic, cultural, etc. – but all leave marks upon the landscape. In a space like the desert where everything lay bare, this evidence is often legible and therefore perhaps comprehendible.
As the title suggests, this work is centered on the Basin and Range Province of North America and focuses primarily on the arid lands of Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona. Site-specific narratives form the organizing structure of the project and provide landmarks for exploration. I envision the work as a kind of “narrative atlas” – a collection of geographic sites all marked and signified by the accumulation of human activity over time.
Image-making is fundamental to my practice and photographs remain the central element in this work. However, in constructing the atlas, I have combined images with text, video, audio, site-specific data collection, and artifacts. The accumulated materials have been, and continue to be, collected in an exhaustive project archive that is sourced for individual exhibitions, publications, and related events.
Selected Photographs from the Project can be found at Basin|Range
To view more detailed site-specific narratives from Volume I of the Atlas visit:
Hubris | Site Studies of Four Terminal Lakes
Peripheries | Three Sites Along The United States / Mexico Border
Hypothesis | Three Sites of Scientific Inquiry
Transgressions | Sites in and around Las Vegas Nevada
