Center Peak 2009

Editor: Michael Cherney, or Qiu Mai, created this photograph "Center Peak," currently at the Harvard Art Museums. It’s a very large image, mostly grayscale, and feels incredibly atmospheric. What sociopolitical ideas do you think Cherney is working with here? Curator: This piece prompts us to consider photography's role in shaping our perceptions of landscape, particularly in relation to cultural identity. How does Cherney, as an artist working between cultures, engage with or subvert traditional landscape painting? Editor: That’s interesting. It's almost like he's intentionally obscuring the landscape, challenging our expectations of clarity and representation. Curator: Exactly! Perhaps he's critiquing the romanticized, often idealized, portrayals of nature that have historically dominated both Western and Eastern art. What might that suggest about power and perspective? Editor: It's like he's inviting us to question the very act of looking and how cultural lenses affect what we see, or think we see. Curator: Precisely. Thinking about how this piece challenges our assumptions really changes how I view landscape photography. Editor: Me too. There's so much more than just a pretty picture.