Richard Misrach: Border Cantos

In his ongoing chronicles of human interaction with the American desert, Misrach’s ​Desert ​Canto XV: The Salt F​l​ats (1992)​ explores a stretch of Utah desert used as, among other things, a raceway where drivers attempt to break land speed records.

An ongoing series exploring the abstracted pattern of an edgeless ocean surface, and the gestures and expressions of bathers adrift in the water.

Photographed over several years from an unchanging vantage point, the series offers a meditation on the light, color, and atmosphere which transcend a fixed and familiar view.

Begun in 1979, this ongoing project explores the southwest American desert landscape, and the impact of our human presence. As the artist explains, “You look at landscape, but it’s not really landscape, it’s a symbol for our country, it’s a metaphor for our country.”