Devour the Land

By Suzanne Révy and Elin Spring

Following a protracted Civil War battle, General William Tecumseh Sherman declared in a letter to his wife that his army had “devoured the land.” Sherman’s persistent strategy of ravaging land and infrastructure ultimately helped bring down the Confederacy. Fast forward to the present. The environmental impact of cumulative domestic and foreign wars has become increasingly alarming. In “Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970,” Makeda Best (Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, Harvard Art Museums) surveys how photography can record both the glaring and the imperceptible environmental, political, and economic effects of our vast military-industrial complex. Featuring the work of sixty artists, the Harvard Art Museums exhibit will be on view through January 16th, 2022. 

“Destruction of Hood’s Ordnance Train” (above) and “Battlefield of Atlanta” (below)1864  by George Norman Barnard, American (Coventry, CT 1819-1902 Onandaga, NY) from  Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign, albumen silver prints from 1866, High Museum of Art, Atlanta Purchase, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

Organized into six thematic sections, Silent Spring, Arming America, Slow Violence, Regeneration, Other Battlefields and Resistance, the exhibition opens with a nod to history in a salon-style presentation of antique photographs documenting the aftermath of General Sherman’s march through the south by George Norman Barnard (1819-1902). Silent Spring, taken from environmentalist Rachel Carson’s seminal book of the same name, presents post-WWII photography leading up to the 1970’s, a pivotal point in escalating environmental activism and anti-war sentiment that is the springboard for this exhibit. 

“Auto Immune Response: Confluence of Three Generations” 2015, by Will Wilson, Diné (b. San Francisco 1969) archival pigment print, from the series Connecting the Dots, Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

“Housing development bordering the Starmet Superfund Site, Concord, MA” 2016 by Nina Berman, American (b. New York, 1960), pigment print, from the series Acknowledgement of Danger, collection of the artist, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

“TNT Storage, Igloo N6-B, Point Pleasant, W. Virgnia” 2012 by Joshua Dudley Greer, American (b. Hazelton, PA 1980) archival pigment print, from the series Point Pleasant, Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

“Cemetery” 2012 by Bryan Schutmaat, American (b. Houston 1983) from the series Greys the Mountain Sends, archival pigment print, Fogg Museum, Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy

“Subsistance Craters on Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site” 1997, by Emmet Gowin, American (b. Danville, VA 1941) gelatin silver print on vintage Agfa Portriga Rapid, 2008, Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

Arming America examines the growing tensions in once pristine, expansive western landscapes that have been blatantly marred by use and abuse. Will Wilson’s constructed image “Auto Immune Response: Confluence of Three Generations” proclaims the echoes of nuclear fallout in his panoramic image with multigenerational Navajo survivors. Nina Berman’s nighttime image of a Concord, MA home abutting an EPA superfund cleanup site offers a ghostly assessment of insidious pollution hazards. The more recent work of photographers Bryan Schutmaat, Joshua Dudley Greer and Jeff Rich, whose stunning landscapes contrast sharply with the cemeteries and pollution they depict, are in direct conversation with the established work of Richard Misrach, whose heap of dead animals are a shocking sucker punch, and Barbara Norfleet’s influential pictures within abandoned military sites. Emmet Gowin’s classic aerial photograph of cratered desert land resulting from nuclear weapon tests endow this section with a sinister unease. 

From the series Waste Land by David T. Hanson, American (b. Billings, Mont. 1948), Ektacolor prints, modified U.S. Geological
Survey maps, and gelatin silver print text panels, collection of the artist, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

From the series In Plain Site by Federica Armstrong, Italian (b. Novara 1971) pigment prints, Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

Images depicting banal aspects of the defense industry, proffering statistics and facts alongside survey pictures and maps, add to the sense of momentum and inevitability in Arming America. David T. Hanson’s aerial photographs and modified U.S. Geologic Survey maps reveal the large footprints of military superfund cleanup sites while Federica Armstrong’s quartet of pictures from her series In Plain Site emphasize the day-to-day economics of the defense industry in the bosom of the high-tech Silicone Valley area. Inferred in all these pictures is an undeniable paradox between benefit and detriment: these corporations, many political leaders and enormous numbers of American employees profit from war while ruining the land upon which all parties depend.

“Donathan Jones, 15, bucks his horse Quinn on a vacant lot in Colfax, LA, May 8, 2017” by Ashley Gilbertson, Australian (b. Melbourne 1978), archival pigment prints, from the series Bombs in our Backyards, Fogg Museum, Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs,  installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

From the series Fulcrum of Malice, 2017, by Stacy Kranitz, American (b. Frankfort, KY 1976), archival pigment prints, Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs,  installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

“Edgar Thomson Plant and the Bottom” 2013 by LaToya Ruby Frazier, American (b. Pittsburgh, PA 1982),  archival pigment print, Fogg Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy

From the series One Hundred Views: Train View by Jin Lee, American (b. Seoul 1961), archival pigment prints, Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Lisa Rich, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

The mood deepens in Slow Violence as we are introduced to those whose lives have been devastated by military infrastructure. Photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson’s stark black and white pictures made on assignment for Pro Publica’s “Bombs in our Backyards” highlights the vexations of communities in California and Louisiana who live near areas the Pentagon has polluted and failed to restore. Stacy Kranitz’s “Fulcrum of Malice” examines the racism inherent in communities of color who reside alongside the plastic and petroleum industries of “cancer alley” in Louisiana. Her work is punctuated with a powerful, large color print by LaToya Ruby Frazier depicting the Edgar Thomson Plant and The Bottom where generations of her family lived and toiled in the shadows of the steel plants. Jin Lee’s studies from a commuter train window of decaying industrial sites outside Chicago amplify the cacophonous daily rhythms of industry.

“Untitled #6” 2019 by Sheila Pree Bright, American (b. Waycross GA 1967) archival inkjet print, Fogg Museum, Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

“Nevada Death House Prison, Carson City, NV” 2005 by Stephen Tourlentes, American (b. Galesburg IL 1959) from the series Of Length and Measures, digital inkjet print, Fogg Museum, Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

Other Battlefields illustrates after-shocks from a wide range of domestic attacks, including 9/11 and the wars on drugs and homelessness. Sheila Pree Bright’s moving still-life of an antique table setting accented with a cotton bole from her series Invisible Empire examines how racism in Georgia, starting with the KKK, became systemic. Stephen Tourlentes’ eerie nighttime image of a modern penitentiary underlines how insidious racism has remained in our justice system today. Susan Meiselas’ atmospheric picture of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of 9/11 recalls a recent wound in the American psyche from which we are still recovering.

“Cow and horse grazing at the Plenemuk burial mound site” January 1st, 1997 by Terry Evans American (b. Kansas City, MO 1944)  from the series Disarming the Prairie, Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

“Fence, Gettysburg National Military Park, PA, 2009” by Oscar Palacio, Colombian (b. Medillín 1970), archival pigment print from the series American History Revisited, Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Lisa Rich, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

“New Crop Varieties for Extreme Weather, Geneva Greenhouses, New York State Agricultural Experimentation Station” 2013 by Lucas Foglia, American (b. New York, 1983), archival pigment print, Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Lisa Rich; Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

Regeneration is a brief reprieve, focusing on nature’s capacity for reclamation in the aftermath of attack. Terry Evans’ aerial of a rusting train and  decommissioned arsenal bunker reveal the new growth patterns forming as it slowly disintegrates into the earth and becomes feed for the livestock of adjoining farms. Oscar Palacio’s lush view of a collapsed fence at Gettysburg is weighted with the symbolism of broken barriers and escapes to freedom, while Lucas Foglia’s meditation glimmers with hope in muted monochromes set against rich red light emanating from a greenhouse for new crop experiments.

“Mary, Esther and Ellis, Members of the Organization Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice, Uniontown, AL” 2014 by Jeff Rich, American (b. Atlanta 1977), from the series Watershed: The Tennessee River, chromogenic prints, Fogg Museum, Kenyon C. Bolton III Fund, courtesy of the artist and the Harvard Art Museum.

With only three photographs, the final thematic section of Resistance harbors an air of futility. While photography is only capable of being descriptive, it is often deployed to be proscriptive. And while Devour the Land is offered as an open-ended exploration of the unrelenting challenges caused by our military-industrial complex, it may also be seen as a call to action. Ending the exhibit with an anemic display of attempts at resistance may also be interpreted to mean that human beings are programmed for conflict, that war and its devastating impacts are inevitable. Ultimately Devour the Land asks, can we heal ourselves or are we doomed?

If you go, be sure to check out the Lightbox Gallery on the 5th floor to see the full portfolios of Nina Berman, Peter Goin, David T. Hanson and Barbara Norfleet which can be accessed through a QR code on your phone.

For more information about the exhibition, related programming and reservations go to: https://harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/5877/devour-the-land-war-and-american-landscape-photography-since-1970

(Featured Image) Sim Chi Yin, Singaporean (b. Singapore 1978), Mountain range surrounding the Nevada Test Site, November 2017. From the series Most People Were Silent. Archival pigment print. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Richard and Ronay Menschel Fund for the Acquisition of Photographs, 2020.181. © Sim Chi Yin; image courtesy of the artist.