The Huntington Museum of Art will welcome award-winning photographer Michael J. Sherwin when he presents The Dr. Lawrence B. and Shirley Gang Memorial Lecture at 2 p.m. March 26. Admission is free.
Community Trust and Investment Co. Presents Vanishing Points: Revisiting America’s Indigenous Landscape, an exhibit of photographs by Sherwin, at HMA now through June 18. The opening reception for this exhibit, which went on view March 11, follows the Gang Lecture March 26.
Artwork by Sherwin, who is an associate professor of art at West Virginia University, has been shown at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center and the Center for Fine Art Photography. His work has appeared in Prism magazine and Oxford American Magazine.
In his artist statement, Sherwin shared the concept of his exhibit: “In ‘Vanishing Points,’ I locate and photograph significant sites of Indigenous American presence, including ancient earthworks, sacred landforms, documented archaeological sites and contested battlegrounds,” Sherwin wrote. “The sites I choose to visit, and photograph are literal and metaphorical vanishing points. They are places in the landscape where two lines, or cultures, converge. While visiting these sites, I reflect on the monuments our modern culture will presumably leave behind and what the archaeological evidence of our civilization will reveal about our time on Earth.
“Although these pictures record sites of historical importance or trauma, ‘Vanishing Points’ is not just about the past. It’s about re-considering these events in the present and the future. It’s about who we have been, who we are now and who we can become.”
In conjunction with the exhibit of photographs by Sherwin, HMA will present Depth of Feeling: Photographic Images from the Permanent Collection now through July 2. This exhibit will feature photographs by Carrie Mae Weems and Sandy Skoglund, among others.
“There are more than 70 photographs in Sherwin’s ‘Vanishing Points’ exhibition, and I hope visitors will enjoy the opportunity to experience this series at a scale not previously seen,” said John Farley, HMA senior curator/exhibition designer. “When we committed to a solo exhibition of Sherwin’s work, it was important to me that it be accompanied by a wide-ranging exhibition of photographic images from our permanent collection. In an adjacent gallery, ‘Depth of Feeling’ features more than 25 additional works curated from our holdings, including highlights by artists such as Ansel Adams, Romare Bearden, Willie Cole, Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor.”
Vanishing Points: Revisiting America’s Indigenous Landscape & Depth of Feeling: Photographic Images from the Permanent Collection are presented with support from The Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment.
These programs are presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
