Watershed: Contemporary Landscape Photography

Watershed: Contemporary Landscape Photography explores the increasingly fraught relationship between humankind and the environment, giving photographic aid to a concern that has reached global significance in recent years. Since the 1970s, landscape photographers have embraced this new relationship with the natural world, marking a firm split from the black and white, pristine vistas associated with midcentury landscape photographers like Ansel Adams. Displaying works that evidence the undeniable human impact on the earth, these photographers reveal the landscape as an activated space—one that is imprinted by mankind and marked by social performance.

Uniting many works from Telfair’s permanent collection, this exhibition features over 30 works by 25 artists. This photographic survey is divided into several sections that explore trends in landscape photography since the 1970s: Objective, Atmosphere, Exposure, and Narrative.