The American landscape has long occupied a place in popular imagination. Plains and prairies, home to cowboys and saloons, are often the first thing to come to mind when someone mentions the 鈥淎merican West鈥. It鈥檚 an image fed to us by popular culture: films, TV and games. Artists have often contributed to this narrative, with many providing romanticised views of the USA. Many of the country鈥檚 most famous 20th century photographers, like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Carlton E. Watkins, documented the nation鈥檚 sweeping vistas and picturesque views in their images. Shifting Landscapes, the latest show at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, complicates this narrative. The exhibition features 120 works by 80 artists, who address the landscape as not just something to be admired for its aesthetic appeal, but as a backdrop to, and integral component of, social, economic and political events. The show is a powerful reflection on the complexities of modern American life, asking vital questions about how society shapes, and is molded by, its surroundings.
Shifting Landscapes includes work that span more than 50 years, from pioneering 20th century figures such as Gordon Matta-Clark and Jean-Michel Basquiat, to contemporary names like Teresita Fern谩ndez. There鈥檚 a focus on the city as well as the great outdoors: Matta-Clark sought to form new understandings of a subject鈥檚 relationship to built-up space, whilst Basquiat鈥檚 graffiti-like images and scrawled text depicted the changing neighbourhoods of New York. Meanwhile, Fern谩ndez creates large-scale sculptures inspired by the elements, often drawing attention to how spaces are in constant flux. These artists, alongside the 80 others featured in the show, present a new way of looking at the American landscape. They depict the effects of industrialisation on the environment, grapple with the impact of geopolitical borders and reconsider the symbiotic relationship between people and the natural world. Jennie Goldstein, Associate Curator of the Collection said: 鈥Shifting Landscapes聽reflects the聽Whitney鈥檚 ongoing commitment to telling diverse stories in American art. Landscape 鈥 in its formal, social, and political implications 鈥 feels like a particularly dynamic and urgent subject today, and we are excited that over half of the works in this exhibition are new to the collection and on view at the Museum for the first time.鈥
The exhibition opens with an examination of 鈥淣ew Topographic鈥, a stark style of photography that debuted in 1975 with New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. The movement focused on human-made and manufactured structures, often documenting parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses. First exhibited at the Internationa Museum of Photography in Rochester, New York, the artists involved had a decisive influence on photography as an artform. The images reflected a growing unease about how industrial development was eroding the natural world. Shifting Landscapes includes work from this pivotal period, such as Robert Adams鈥 Outdoor Theatre. Colorado Springs. Colorado. (1968-1971). The series recorded the residential sprawl along the Rocky Mountains in a straight-on and detached style. These fears have become more pressing than ever, as the world now faces consequences of human behaviour with the climate crisis. According to a Center for American Progress report, . Now, Whitney brings the story of New Topographics up-to-date by showcasing an abundance of contemporary examples. Recent photographs by LaToya Ruby Frazier,聽An-My L锚, and Pili膩mo鈥檕 carry on the aesthetic tradition with more pointedly political undertones. Frazier often focuses on how her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania, became financially depressed after the collapse of the steel industry in 1970s. The artist said: 鈥淭here has to be a deep empathy. There鈥檚 a need to be compassionate and [to] want to really, truly see someone鈥檚 humanity when they鈥檙e at their lowest.鈥 The works push beyond the 鈥淣ew Topographic鈥 concern of human encroachment on the landscape, centring how these intrusions affect real lives and communities.聽
New York is key to the exhibitions exploration of 鈥渃ityscapes鈥: a case study for how buildings and towns are as much part of national landscapes as untouched wilderness. The works range from the 1970s to 2020, as artists document and reflect on how the city has changed over time. The show foregrounds artistic experimentation amidst the economic decay and social turmoil of the 1970s, such as in Hiram Maristany鈥檚 photograph聽Hydrant: In the Air (1963) and Anita Steckel鈥檚 painting聽Skyline on Canvas #1 (Woman Pressing Finger Down). In the 1980s and 1990s, as New York became more globalised, works such as Jean-Michel Basquiat鈥檚 painting Untitled (1980) depicted the theatre of daily life. The section moves through the decades, and a final group considers the unsettling images of tragedy and alienation in the wake of the September 11 attacks and Covid-19 pandemic. These include Keith Mayerson鈥檚 painting聽9-11聽(2007), Salman Toor鈥檚 Man with Face Creams and Phone Plugs聽(2019), and Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani鈥檚 video聽2 Lizards聽(2020). They reveal how human behaviours leave a lasting trace on the world.
Borders are integral to understanding the American landscape. Around 15 million people live in the US-Mexico border region, a 2,000-mile stretch that sees more than 300 million individuals move across it each year. For many artists, the borderlands are a microcosm for the issues that are often at the fore of politics 鈥 class, immigration, race. The Whitney dedicates a whole section of the exhibition to the issue. 鈥淏orderlands鈥 considers how artists have gone beyond seeing the border as a fixed and immutable geopolitical line. . Instead of a fixed and immutable geopolitical line, practitioners propose that the region is an herida abierta, or open wound, where loss and regeneration coexist. Shifting Landscapes reveals the forces that emerge from the grief of historical trauma, erasure and omission. Enrique Chagoya鈥檚 prints, drawings and collages offer a critical commentary on the global reach of the USA. They use the tradition of ancient Mesoamerican manuscripts, telling the history of western civilisation from the perspective of colonised people. Elsewhere, Leslie Martinez takes inspiration from Texas鈥 rugged geography. The artist uses rags and other recycled materials, attaching them to a canvas to mimic a landscape marked by pain but also healing.
The message at the heart of Shifting Landscapes is that perceptions of the American landscape are changing. Whitney offers a nuanced portrayal of the subject matter, rather than sticking with the familiar sweeping panoramas to which audiences might be accustomed. The 80 exhibiting artists reflect modern American life, placing the landscape as a space interwoven with social, political and economic forces 鈥 not a monolith. 聽Attendees are invited to reconsider how societies both impact, and are influenced by, their surroundings. Overall, it is a powerful show that, in a world facing the existential threat of climate change, feels more urgent than ever.聽
Shifting Landscapes is at Whitney Museum of American Art until January 2026:
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
Hiram Maristany, Juan Gonzalez,聽Minister of Education of the Young Lords, at original storefront office headquarters, 1969, printed 2021.
Melvonna Ballenger, Rain (Nyesha), 1978.
Hiram Maristany, Hydrant: In the Air, 1963, printed 2021.
