Arid Waters: Photographs from the Water in the West ProjectPeter Goin Arid Waters is a photographic response to the growing crisis of water scarcity, which exists because our culture thinks of water as a commodity, or an abstract legal right, rather than the most basic physical source of life. The Water in the West Project began as a collaborative effort designed to present an artistic response to water as a social issue. Photography historian Ellen Manchester and the photographers - Mark Klett, Terry Evans, Laurie Brown, Peter Goin, Robert Dawson, Martin Stupich, Gregory Conniff, and Wanda Hammerbeck - address the question: How can photography contribute to the urgent public debate over water use and allocation? Project members prepared an exhibition of their work, defining it as a laboratory and emphasizing the process of working through ideas. Contact prints and numerous work prints were displayed on the walls of the Sheppard Fine Art Gallery at the University of Nevada, Reno, and simultaneously the Nevada Humanities Committee sponsored a conference entitled "Water in the Arid West". Participants included historians, writers, ranchers, politicians, lawyers, students, and community members. Arid Waters documents the evolution of the Water in the West Project from its inception as a group collaboration to the foundation of an archive. Ellen Manchester, codirector of the Water in the West Project, has written an informative introduction that provides a historical perspective for the collaboration. Including 59 photographs from the eight photographers, Arid Waters is a testimony to the role photography has played in western history. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
6057 KODAK PXP agriculture American West Angeles archive members Arid West Arizona Art Museum AWARDS AND GRANTS Basin Carleton Watkins Central Valley Project collaborative Committee and University cultural Currently resides Desert documenting Donald Worster Dorothea Lange Ellen Manchester Fellowship Gallery Gregory Conniff Headlands Center historians historical photographs ILFORD ILFORD FP4 Irrigation Jackson Kansas KODAK PXP 6057 KODAK VPS 6006 Lake Tahoe Land Institute large-scale LAURIE BROWN Mark Klett MARTIN STUPICH Mexico Press Museum of Art National Endowment nature Nevada Humanities Committee Nevada Press nineteenth-century original in color Peter Goin Photo League Photographic Genius Picturing California political project members PXP 6057 KODAK Pyramid Lake Project RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE Reno Rephotographic Survey Project Robert Dawson Salina San Francisco San Juan River SELECTED EXHIBITIONS SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Sierra TERRY EVANS TIMOTHY O'SULLIVAN Truckee River University of Nevada University Press urban Visual Arts WANDA HAMMERBECK water issues West Project western York