Obscura Gallery presents a photographic exhibition by New Mexico artist, Michael P. Berman, celebrating the Gila Wilderness 100th Anniversary. The reception will be held at Obscura Gallery from 5 - 7pm at 225 Delgado Street, Santa Fe. A portion of the Obscura Gallery proceeds from the sales of Michael Berman’s artworks will be donated to WildEarth Guardians to continue their work in the Gila Wilderness.
IN ADDITION TO THE EXHIBITION:
Obscura Gallery, Michael Berman, WildEarth Guardians, and the New Mexico Museum of Art present a celebration event that will honor all that's exceptional about our beloved Gila Wilderness on its 100th birthday. On May 17 at 3pm at the New Mexico History Museum, the celebration event will bring together unique voices and perspectives on the Gila Wilderness' long history of inspiring advocacy through storytelling and art including Gabe Vasquez, Elizabeth Hightower Allen, Laura Paskus, and Michael Berman.
The Gila Wilderness area is located within the Gila National Forest in Southwest New Mexico and was designated on June 3, 1924. “One hundred years ago, Aldo Leopold held with conviction that wilderness is a value unto itself and a precious resource to be protected. He also had the influence and power of persuasion to effect change,” said Gila National Forest Supervisor Camille Howes. “He argued for large swaths of land to be set aside for ecosystem function and recreation, where man is only a visitor. Convinced of his wisdom, the Southwestern Region of the Forest Service answered the call for protection by designating the Gila Wilderness.”
Michael P. Berman is no stranger to the Gila Wilderness. Living in Southern New Mexico, photographing in and around the area for years, culminated into the book, Gila (University of New Mexico Press, 2012) with over a 100 of his photographs and essays by the likes of Charles Bowden and many others. Berman is known for wandering the terrain of the American West, Mexico, Norteno and the extensive grasslands of Mongolia. Mr. Berman’s classically executed black and white photographs participate in and extend the tradition of western landscape photography; each body of work is distilled from extensive exploration of a cohesive landscape over time. After completing a series of photographs he then cuts up the negatives and prints and uses them as the basic medium for installations and paintings. The works in this exhibition consist of both traditional black and white prints, alongside Berman’s well-known ‘plates’ in which he uses mixed media on aluminum to combine both his photographs, acrylic, and varnish. In addition he ‘composite’ photographs, all of which he uses from his original images of the Gila to re-create a new visual representation that conjure up the emotional response felt while living and breathing within the Gila Wilderness.
Michael P. Berman was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008 to photograph the remnant grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert. His photographs are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Amon Carter Museum and the Museum of New Mexico. In 2013, he received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in New Mexico and has also been a recipient of Painting Fellowships from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Wurlitzer Foundation; his installations, photographs, and paintings have been reviewed in Art in America, and exhibited throughout the country. Berman’s work has been published in several books including Gila: Radical Visions; The Enduring Silence and the first and third books of a border trilogy with writer Charles Bowden, Inferno and Trinity. His most recent book, published by Museum of New Mexico Press, available October 2019, is Perdido: Sierra San Luis.
Read more about the exhibition and celebration talk on our website at www.obscuragallery.net