Topographics
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TOPOGRAPHICS
The 1975 exhibition New Topographics, a turning point in the history of photography, signalled a radical shift away from traditional depictions of landscape. Curated by William Jenkins, it featured pictures of transcendent natural vistas that gave way to unromanticized views of stark industrial landscapes, suburban sprawl, and everyday scenes often overlooked. The exhibition had a ripple effect on the entire medium and genre, with generations of landscape photographers emulating and still emulating the spirit and aesthetics of the exhibition.
I am one of those photographers.
My “newer” topographic images are an homage to those original ten photographers whose images were, as Jenkins said, “stripped of any artistic frills and reduced to an essentially topographic state, conveying substantial amounts of visual information but eschewing entirely the aspects of beauty, emotion and opinion.”
However, I beg to differ with Jenkins on the part about “eschewing the aspects of beauty, emotion, and opinion.” I think they’re pretty damn beautiful, emotional, and full of things to say!
