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Twelve Renowned Photographers Celebrate
The Nature Conservancy

NEWS RELEASE
May 23, 2001

In Response to Place: Photographs from The Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places, Corcoran Gallery of Art, September 15 - December 31, 2001

WASHINGTON-In observance of The Nature Conservancy's 50th anniversary, an exhibition of photographs exploring and celebrating the natural world will open at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on September 15, 2001.

In Response to Place features 130 photographs of the Conservancy's "Last Great Places," ecologically important areas from around the world.       

Exhibition curator Andy Grundberg invited twelve photographers of established reputation to select a place the Conservancy helps protect and record their response to that place on film. The exhibition's range of styles, from landscape photography to portraiture and photojournalism, illustrate the rich and complex splendor of these places, as well as the diversity of artists represented.  The featured artists include those who are famous for their landscape photographs- such as Terry Evans and Richard Misrach- those who have achieved wide followings for their portraiture- such as Annie Liebowitz and William Wegman- and those who are best known for their work on the cutting edge of the art world-such as Sally Mann and Lee Friedlander.

"By asking contemporary artists to visit and respond to what The Nature Conservancy calls the Last Great Places, I wanted to investigate new ways of thinking about how the camera could depict our relationships to the land, to beauty and to nature in general," says Grundberg.The artists chose sites ranging in character from the red rock plateaus of Utah and the forests of New York to the coral reefs of Indonesia.  Some focussed on plant and animal life, while others focussed on the people who live in and around these areas. Some made one trip, while others chose to revisit the selected site over several seasons.  Yet, all of the participants produced images that express passionate feelings about the natural world.

William Christenberry and Lee Friedlander, for example, focused on the landscape.  At Alabama's Bibb County Glades and Cahaba River, Christenberry found himself photographing the first pure landscapes of his career.  Friedlander's work along the San Pedro River in Arizona explores the diversity of plants growing in the vicinity of the river. Christenberry and Friedlander's interpretations unveil the hidden beauty of these biologically important places, and demonstrate the importance of The Nature Conservancy's goal of preserving ecologically functioning landscapes.

Mary Ellen Mark and Fazal Sheikh, on the other hand, concentrated on portraiture. Mark's images from two isolated coastal settlements on opposite ends of the United States, and Sheikh's portraits of the faces and hands of landless people living in and near a national park in Brazil, are reminders of the human face of conservation. In so doing, the photographs suggest that the beauty of nature and the reality of human presence are not necessarily antithetical, and therein reflect the Conservancy's collaborative and participatory approach to conservation.

In Response to Place will remain on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art until December 31, 2001 and then it will begin a four-year tour to venues across the United States, as well as to sites in Brazil and Japan.  In addition, a smaller selection of photographs from the exhibit will travel as part of the Selections From, In Response to Place tour, which will launch in the winter of 2002.

Accompanying the exhibition is a 160-page, fully illustrated book.  Published by Bulfinch press, the book features essays and statements by the artists. The hardcover book retails for $60.00 and paperback for $35.00.

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The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 12 million acres in the United States and has helped partner organizations to preserve more than 80 million acres in Asia Pacific, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America. nature.org  In Response to Place is made possible by presenting sponsor, Merrill Lynch, and official sponsors, Cadillac, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, MBNA America, Millstone Coffee and 3M.
 
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, a privately funded institution, was founded in 1869 as Washington's first museum of art. It is known internationally for its distinguished collection of historical and modern American art as well as European painting, sculpture and decorative arts. It is located at New York Avenue and 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC, and is open every day, except Tuesday, 10 am - 5 pm, and until 9 pm on Thursdays.  Admission costs are $5 for adults; $8 for families; $3 for seniors and member guests; $1 for students (12-18 years old) with valid ID.  The public information line for the museum is (202) 639-1700. www.corcoran.org.