Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon 2004

Curator: Before us is "Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon", a photograph by Robert Adams from 2004. It presents an upward view into the bare branches of a tree, set against a stark, pale sky. Editor: Strikingly minimalist. My first thought is quiet… maybe even lonely. It's stark, like a charcoal drawing, but feels much more fragile. A visual poem, perhaps? Curator: Adams often photographed the landscape of the American West, highlighting humanity’s impact on nature. We can see his approach in his choices related to black and white photography and selection of composition. It seems here he zeroes in on natural structures like twigs, branches, and leaves that, set against the negative space, recall natural decay, like worm-eaten leaves Editor: Right, decay, but even though you see the wear and tear on each leaf, there's an ethereal quality. The high contrast creates this starkness, of course, but I wonder if that almost spiritual sense is also, in part, down to how empty it feels. The negative space emphasizes the quiet battle of existing and surviving... kind of how I felt last Tuesday... Curator: This highlights a point about how we see and construct the landscape itself. As opposed to some kind of "untouched nature," there’s always going to be an effect, if not something like industry, then at least natural pressures such as insects. Here the use of black and white film accentuates a raw aesthetic quality. It underscores both decay, but a survival through constraint. Editor: I like that. There’s a sort of ghostly beauty to the bare bones of these branches. It’s strangely reassuring, as well; seeing beauty in these traces, it offers resilience… a kind of ‘it’ll be alright’ in photographic form, if you will. Curator: Exactly. By examining the material impact, even those made by bugs, we gain a more acute understanding. What often might feel "invisible" comes into a stark focus on what it is actually made of, through what it goes through. The photograph almost insists on these layers. Editor: Hmm, it almost makes you question the traditional views of what a landscape should look like in an art setting. Thanks, Materialist! Curator: The pleasure was all mine, it helps in deconstructing received histories about our relationship with land.