Santa Fe New Mexican / Pasatiempo
1/22/2009 - 1/23/09
"The "faraway nearby" was Georgia O'Keeffe's term for the Western outback. Over time, her words have reappeared in book and song titles — sometimes as the "nearby faraway" — by writers and composers who wanted to invoke the timelessness of familiar landscapes, the sense of eternity in plain sight. The work of 27 photographers now on display at Photo-eye Gallery is an attempt to do that, to conjure meaning from the emptiness of Santa Fe's vast Galisteo Basin.
The exhibition is also an expression of the vigorous opposition of many Northern New Mexicans to the plans of a Houston-based energy company to drill for oil and gas in the basin. The concern is that drilling could turn much of the area into an industrial wasteland, marring the beauty of the basin, imperiling its extensive archaeological sites, and degrading the quality of its air and water. In the words of its organizers, the Galisteo Basin Photography Project's mission "is to raise public awareness of what will be irretrievably lost if the basin is allowed to become an oil and gas production field." A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the photographs will be donated to local nonprofit groups that have led the fight against the drilling project.
Art in the service of any cause is a risky enterprise. This exhibition, however, avoids the pitfalls. It informs without lecturing, maybe because the photographers had their own reasons for taking pictures of the basin. Many of them live or own property in the area. It's their habitat. Jewelry maker Douglas Magnus documented the views from the abandoned turquoise mine he bought 20 years ago. Walter Nelson photographed countryside he once covered on horseback, following the route of Coronado's 1540 expedition.
Curated by Photo-eye's director, Rixon Reed, and Mary Anne Redding, curator of photography at the Palace of the Governors, the exhibition is a collection of private perspectives: eccentric, whimsical, abstract, and occasionally mysterious. Without always telling you where you are, the images make you glad to be there. "Joyeria," reads the fading storefront sign on a disheveled adobe photographed by Tony Bonanno. " More>>>>
The exhibition is also an expression of the vigorous opposition of many Northern New Mexicans to the plans of a Houston-based energy company to drill for oil and gas in the basin. The concern is that drilling could turn much of the area into an industrial wasteland, marring the beauty of the basin, imperiling its extensive archaeological sites, and degrading the quality of its air and water. In the words of its organizers, the Galisteo Basin Photography Project's mission "is to raise public awareness of what will be irretrievably lost if the basin is allowed to become an oil and gas production field." A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the photographs will be donated to local nonprofit groups that have led the fight against the drilling project.
Art in the service of any cause is a risky enterprise. This exhibition, however, avoids the pitfalls. It informs without lecturing, maybe because the photographers had their own reasons for taking pictures of the basin. Many of them live or own property in the area. It's their habitat. Jewelry maker Douglas Magnus documented the views from the abandoned turquoise mine he bought 20 years ago. Walter Nelson photographed countryside he once covered on horseback, following the route of Coronado's 1540 expedition.
Curated by Photo-eye's director, Rixon Reed, and Mary Anne Redding, curator of photography at the Palace of the Governors, the exhibition is a collection of private perspectives: eccentric, whimsical, abstract, and occasionally mysterious. Without always telling you where you are, the images make you glad to be there. "Joyeria," reads the fading storefront sign on a disheveled adobe photographed by Tony Bonanno. " More>>>>
details
Endangered Culture: The Galisteo Basin Photography Project
Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23; exhibit through March 7
Photo-eye Gallery, 376 Garcia St., 988-5159
Additional photographs may be viewed at galisteobasinphotoproject.com
Linda Spier, Producer of the Galisteo Photography Project, letter>>>>>
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