War-scarred land: Nina Berman and Ashley Gilbertson featured in award-winning book depicting collateral damage of U.S. military at home

Via The Harvard Gazette

In her recent book and accompanying exhibition, “Devour the Land” — honored at the 2022 PhotoBook Awards — curator Makeda Best considers how photographers have responded to the U.S. military’s impact on the environment since the 1970s.

Below, the Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums walks us through a few of the images she selected. (Full post here)

A Housing Development Bordering the Starmet Superfund Site, Concord, Mass., USA” (July 3, 2016) by Nina Berman, American (b. New York, N.Y. 1960). © Nina Berman; image courtesy of Nina Berman

Just outside Walden Pond, a toxic dump

Nina Berman’s photograph was made in nearby Concord. Made at sites across the country, Berman’s series “Acknowledgment of Danger” takes its title from a waiver visitors must sign before entering the toxic grounds of a former military facility. In Concord, she photographed a new housing development in early morning light. Concord is known for its connections to the Revolutionary War and to the U.S. environmental movement. (The pictured site is six miles from Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau’s 19th-century nature writing.) Here, Berman draws out this site’s link to modern warfare: Starmet Corp. (formerly Nuclear Metals Inc.) manufactured products from depleted uranium, primarily for armor-piercing ammunition, among other things. The company discharged toxic waste into an unlined holding basin for nearly 30 years, contaminating the soil and groundwater. In 2001, the facility was placed on the National Priorities List, an EPA registry of the nation’s most hazardous sites.

 “A Resident Talks to Workers in the Hunter’s Point Neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif., on May 5, 2017.” From the series “Bombs in Our Backyard” by Ashley Gilbertson, Australian (b. Melbourne 1978). © Ashley Gilbertson/VII; image courtesy of the artist

Story of environmental racism

It was important to me that the exhibition speak to the fact that communities of color are disproportionately impacted by this pollution and toxicity. Ashley Gilbertson made this photograph in a neighborhood in my hometown of San Francisco, called Hunter’s Point. The neighborhood was largely built on a former naval base, today a Superfund site. Growing up, I knew kids who lived here — heard them talk about their eczema and asthma. In 2017-18, Gilbertson, a contributor to the catalog, acclaimed for his photographs of conflict in the Middle East, turned his attention to the U.S., documenting pollution caused by the military for the investigative journalism nonprofit ProPublica. Gilbertson collaborated with journalist Abrahm Lustgarten (another contributor to the catalog) to produce a series of in-depth reports on the pollution from former chemical weapons test sites and the harmful ways the military has chosen to dispose of chemicals and munitions. In his larger series, Gilbertson shows how people and toxins intersect — from illness to activism to labor and daily life in a poisonous environment.

 

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Stephen Wilkes' pictures document effects of climate change

 Via Good Morning America

August 23, 2022

Stephen Wilkes has been photographing national parks for more than 20 years and his newly born granddaughter inspires him to continue bearing witness to how they're affected by climate change.

Stephen Wilkes among group of nature photographers joining forces to protect the environment

 

Via CNN

December 2, 2021

Stephen Wilkes - Serengeti Day to Night. For his project "Day to Night," Stephen Wilkes creates images of landscapes photographed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours. Blending these images into a single photograph can take months. Pictured, is Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.   ©,Stephen Wilkes

View slide show here

The final moments before the death of the last male northern white rhino, a 66-year-old elephant swimming in the ocean, and renowned primatologist Jane Goodall searching for chimpanzees in Tanzania in the early 1960s; these are all moments captured in a collection of powerful photographs that have been donated to raise funds for conservation projects.

Works by 100 photographers from around the world will be sold until the end of the year by Vital Impacts, a non-profit that provides financial support to community-orientated conservation organizations and amplifies the work of photographers who are raising awareness of their efforts. Contributing is a who's who of nature photography, including Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale, Jimmy Chin, Chris Burkard, Nick Brandt, Beth Moon, Stephen Wilkes and Goodall herself.

"Each image has a really profound story behind it," said Vitale, an award-winning photographer and co-founder of Vital Impacts. "I worked really hard when I was curating this to make sure that these photographers are diverse, but the one thing they all share is this commitment to the planet. They're using their art to help conservation."

'An inspiration to the world'

Goodall's photograph of herself, sitting with a telescope on a high peak in Gombe, Tanzania, was taken around 1962 using a camera that she fastened to a tree branch. "I was pretty proud of myself. I love that picture," said Goodall in a video message for Vital Impacts. All the proceeds from her self-portrait will go to supporting her Roots & Shoots program, which educates young people and empowers them to care for the world.

Jane Goodall's "Self Portrait," from the early 1960s, in Tanzania. Credit: ©,Jane Goodall

"It's breathtaking work," said Vitale, who only found out that Goodall was a photographer after reaching out to her about supporting the program. "She's been such an inspiration to the world. This one woman has had such an impact for the betterment of the planet."

Vital Impacts has tried to make the print sale carbon neutral by planting trees for every print that is made. Sixty per cent of profits from the sale will be divided between four groups involved in wildlife or habitat protection: Big Life Foundation, Great Plains Foundation's Project Ranger, Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots program, and SeaLegacy. The remaining 40% will go to the photographers to help them continue their work.

'Our shared life raft'

Vitale was a conflict photographer for a decade before becoming a wildlife photographer. She hopes that people will be "inspired by all of this work" and that the photographs make people "fall in love" with our "magnificent planet."

"The planet is our shared life raft and we've poked some holes in it, but it's not too late," added Vitale. "We can all do little acts that can have profound impacts. That's kind of why I named it 'Vital Impacts,' because I think very often we are all so disconnected and don't realize how we are interconnected. Everything we do impacts one another and shapes this world."

One of her photographs in the print sale, "Goodbye Sudan," shows Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, being comforted by one of his keepers, Joseph Wachira, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya moments before the rhino's death in March 2018. Now, two females are all that remains of this species.

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"Goodbye Sudan" by Ami Vitale shows the moments before the death of the last male northern white rhino in 2018. Credit:© Ami Vitale

"It's such an important story to me because it made me realize that watching these animals go extinct is actually like watching our own demise in slow motion, knowing that it's going to impact humanity," said Vitale.

"It's so deeply interwoven. That's what led me down this path and now I really try to find these stories which show us a way forward, where people are learning how to coexist and protect wildlife and the habitats that we all share."

" “Devour the Land” is one of the most depressing exhibitions I’ve seen. But my first thought coming out of it was: I want to see more shows like this"

 Via The Washington Post

October 26, 2020

The show is called “Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970.” It’s at Harvard Art Museums, it was put together by curator Makeda Best, and it’s about how photographers have fought to expose the hidden effects of the U.S. military and its associated industries on America’s environment and the health of its population. More broadly, it’s about inequality and justice.

" Should museums mount exhibitions with a moral agenda? Absolutely. If they do it well....I’ve just seen a major exhibition that I think delivers on exactly the kind of thing they had in mind.

And, guess what? It’s brilliant. "

Gallery photographers Nina Berman and Ashley Gilbertson are included in this exhibition.

Devour the Land: An Introduction with Curator Makeda Best and commentary from photographers Nina Berman, Sharon Stewart, and Robert Del Tredici

Via Harvard Art Museums  

Curator Makeda Best, alongside commentary from photographers Nina Berman, Sharon Stewart, and Robert Del Tredici, provides a brief introduction to our new special exhibition, Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970. Featuring approximately 160 photographs from 60 artists, the exhibition invites you to explore the impacts of military activity on the American landscape—and how photography supports activism in response to these effects.

Make your reservation to visit the Harvard Art Museums today.

"On Aug. 20, 2018, one child staged a lone protest outside the Swedish Parliament, expecting to stay for three weeks...."

 

Adam Karls Johansson

Greta Thunberg's first school strike for Climate, outside the Swedish Parliament, August 20, 2018

Via The New York Times

August 19, 2021

"On Aug. 20, 2018, one child staged a lone protest outside the Swedish Parliament, expecting to stay for three weeks. Tomorrow we will mark three years since Greta Thunberg’s strike. Even earlier, brave young people from around the world spoke out about the climate crisis in their communities. And today, millions of children and young people have united in a movement with one voice, demanding that decision makers do the work necessary to save our planet from the unprecedented heat waves, massive floods and vast wildfires we are increasingly witnessing. Our protest will not end until the inaction does."

Knight Science Journalism Program Names 2021-22 Project Fellows, including Nina Berman

 

Via Knight Science Journalism

July 26, 2021

Twenty-one distinguished journalists will pursue a diverse range of projects related to science, health, technology, and the environment.

The Knight Science Journalism Program (KSJ) is pleased to announce that it has selected a group of 21 distinguished science journalists for its 2021-22 project fellowship class — a cohort that ranges from award-winning freelance writers to staff reporters for outlets such as The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, and MIT Technology Review.

It marks the second year that KSJ will offer the remote project fellowships, which were established in response to the unique challenges and public health concerns presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. The fellowships are designed to support journalists pursuing a diverse range of projects related to science, health, technology, and the environment. Each fellow will receive a stipend and a budget for project related expenses, as well as access to seminars, workshops, mentoring, and a large offering of online resources at MIT. (KSJ’s traditional in-person fellowships are expected to resume in the 2022-23 academic year.)

The newly selected fellows will pursue in-depth reporting projects probing issues such as globalization in the artificial intelligence industry, inequities in maternal health, animal lab testing, and environmental justice in the Deep South. “It’s an impressive array of projects that really embodies the multitude of ways our lives are touched by science.” said KSJ associate director Ashley Smart. “We’re proud to be able to support so much important work — and the talented journalists who are undertaking it.”

“The Knight Science Journalism Program is honored to contribute to the work being done by this talented group of science journalists,” said KSJ director Deborah Blum. “It’s a pleasure to see such innovative and insightful work across so many platforms – books, documentary films, podcasts, long-form investigative stories – all with such a promise of making a difference.”

Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, the 2021-22 fellowship class includes authors, reporters, documentary photographers, and multimedia journalists representing every time zone in the contiguous United States. Seven journalists will receive full-year fellowships supported by $40,000 stipends; fourteen will receive single semester fellowships supported by $20,000 stipends, with nine in the fall semester and five in the spring semester fellowships.

The Knight Science Journalism program, supported by a generous endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is recognized around the world as the premier mid-career fellowship program for science writers, editors, and multimedia journalists. The program’s goal is to foster professional growth among the world’s small but essential community of journalists covering science and technology, and encourage them to pursue that mission, first and foremost, in the public interest.

Since its founding in 1983, the program has hosted more than 350 fellows representing media outlets from The New York Times to Le Monde, from CNN to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and more. In addition to the fellowship program, KSJ publishes the award-winning digital magazine Undark and administers a national journalism prize, the Victor K. McElheny Award, honoring local and regional science reporting. KSJ’s academic home at MIT is the Department of Science, Technology and Society, which is part of the School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences.

Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, author and professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her books include “Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq,” (Trolley, 2004), “Homeland,” (Trolley, 2008) and “An autobiography of Miss Wish” (2017). Berman’s project, When the Jets Fly, is a multi-channel documentary film, photography and audio report investigating the environmental impact of USA military training focusing on Whidbey Island, WA, and the greater Puget Sound area.

LIFE ON EARTH Exhibit in the News

We are grateful the current exhibition "Life On Earth" has received extensive coverage in the press:


The Eye of Photography: Monroe Gallery of Photography: Life on Earth

©Arthur Rothstein Legacy Project: Heavy black clouds of dust rising over the Texas Panhandle, April,1935

The Albuquerque Journal: Humanity’s footprint: Monroe Gallery photography exhibit “Life On Earth” a survey of environmental and climate issues

©Adam Karls Johansson: Greta Thunberg’s first school strike for climate outside the Swedish Parliament, 2018

The Santa Fe New Mexican: Life on Earth, a survey exhibition of work by photojournalists that spans more than 80 years 

Margaret Bourke-White/©The Life Picture Collection: Margaret Bourke-White, Louisville Flood Red Cross Relief Station, Kentucky, 1936

View the exhibit on-line here, and on our YouTube channel.

Announcing Stephen Wilkes: Remnants

Recycled Aluminum Can Study #1

 

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to present "Remnants", an exhibition of large-scale color photographs of the environment and the environmental remnants left behind either by nature or man.

The exhibition opens with a public reception with photographer Stephen Wilkes from 5 - 7 PM on Friday, October 2. The exhibition continues through November 22.

For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art, editorial, and commercial photography. With numerous awards and honors, as well as five major exhibitions in the last five years, Wilkes has made an impression on the world of photography.

In the face of increasing global attention on climate change and rebuilding; and as society grapples with the byproducts of global human achievements such as urban development and mass production that have caused problems of scarcity and waste simultaneously, "Remnants" is a timely examination of the environmental issues facing society.
 

"I’ve often found that there is great power in telling difficult stories in a beautiful way. Interest in any given story wanes so quickly, yet it’s only through taking the time to go deeper that we get to a place of real understanding.

There are moments in journalism when the media captures the visual details of a disaster, yet sometimes misses the true scale of devastation. It’s my hope that these images serve as a wakeup call — whether that call is about global warming, infrastructure, or just the recognition that the world is changing, it’s a reminder that we need to take special care of our fragile world." --Stephen Wilkes

 
Recycled Wire Study

Photography has been Stephen’s passion since age 12, when his fascination with science led him to take photographs through a microscope. He began working on his own at age 15, attended Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, graduating in 1980. In 1982, Wilkes opened his own studio in Manhattan.

“Ever since I took my first pictures, photography has always been the joy of discovery for me,” says Wilkes. “The excitement not only lies with what I see and how I see it, but mostly when someone looks at the finished photograph and feels the same emotions I felt when I took the picture. There is something sacred about the right moment. The frame where all the energy comes together and, in one instant, a story is told.”

Wilkes' photographs are in the permanent collection of The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dow Jones & Company, New York City; The Jewish Museum, New York City; and in numerous important private collections throughout the world. His work has graced the covers of numerous international publications, including Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, Life Magazine, and Time Magazine. Selected photographs in the "Remnants" exhibition were featured in the Annenberg Center for Photography exhibit "Sink or Swim: Designing For A Sea Change", Dec 13, 2014 - May 3, 2015.