From Here to the Horizon

“It has become a commonplace observation about American culture that we are a people groping for a renewed sense of place and community, that we want to be more meaningfully committed, less isolated. What many of us are hopeful of now, it seems, is being able to gain—or regain—a sense of allegiance with our chosen places, and along with that a sense of affirmation with our neighbors that the place we’ve chosen is beautiful, subtle, profound, worthy of our lives.” – Barry Lopez

From Here to the Horizon presents work by fifty American photographers assembled in honor of Barry Lopez (1945–2020). Winner of the National Book Award for Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape, Lopez was the author of more than two dozen works of fiction and non-fiction and numerous essays. Recognized for his “glittering, mica-like prose poetry,” Lopez was one of our most highly regarded writers about humankind’s relationship with the natural world and a touchstone for an expansive community of authors and artists.

This exhibition is a call and response between words and images—each photograph is paired with a phrase from Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape, the “reader’s dictionary” of geographic terms compiled by Lopez and his spouse Debra Gwartney. Standing as markers of admiration and affection by Lopez’s friends and colleagues, these images are like cairns guiding visitors through the landscape, finding elegance, inspiration, and solace in the places we call home. The works might spark connections with places we remember fondly or hope to one day visit, or that that we may never see in person but know vividly because of a carefully written verse or a well-made photograph.