The Modern Art Notes Podcast

For most of his career, Richard Misrach has been interested in showing man’s impact on the landscape of the American West. Typically his work starts with overpowering beauty, forces us to wonder, ‘What happened there?’ and then often leads to the viewer realizing that the beautiful thing is (or was) also destructive and  damaging to the environment. In this photograph from SFMOMA’s collection, I don’t know why these palm trees are burning, but Misrach’s picture suggests the polluting hand of man has invaded the typically clear desert environment.

(SFMOMA also has a complete set of Misrach’s “Destroy the Memory” pictures about the way people in New Orleans responded to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. See here for more.) 

Misrach’s investigation of man’s impact on the environment has also extended into the American South, particularly in the part of Louisiana known as ‘Cancer Alley.’ This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast spotlights “Petrochemical America,” a new book byMisrach and landscape architect Kate Orff. The book examines the industrialized Mississippi River corridor between Baton Rouge, La., and New Orleans. The region is infamous for its density of petrochemical plants and for high rates of disease, particularly cancer.

“Petrochemical America” features Misrach’s pictures, commissioned by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and landscape architect Kate Orff’s Ecological Atlas, a series of narratives that establish a relationship between Misrach’s photographs, the region and man-made and ecological forces. An exhibition of Misrach’s and Orff’s work is on view now in the project room at Aperture’s New York gallery through October 6. Misrach’s ‘Cancer Alley’ pictures are on view at the High through October 7. (The book is also published by Aperture. Amazon lists it at $30 off.)  

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Image: Richard Misrach, Desert Fire #1, Burning Palms (detail), 1983. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.