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04-30-2008, 10:31 AM
Two New Mexican Photographers Receive
2008 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards
<center><table border=0><tr><td><caption>Crossings - by Michael Berman - This image says it all!</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Crossings_M_Berman.jpg border=1 align=center vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Crossings - (c) by Michael Berman - This image says it all!"></td></tr></table></center>
<table border=0 align=right><tr><td><caption>Border Patrol - by David Taylor</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Border_Patrol_Taylor.jpg border=1 align=right vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Border Patrol - (c) by David Taylor"></td></tr></table>Santa Fe, NM - Who/What: Two southern New Mexican photographers. Michael P. Berman who lives in the foothills of the Black Range Mountains along the Mimbres River outside San Lorenzo, NM and David J. Taylor who lives very close to the US/Mexico border in Las Cruces, NM are both honored recipients of 2008 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Awards.
When/Where: On April 3, 2008 the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (New York) announced the winners of its 84th annual competition for the United States and Canada. 190 Fellowships were awarded to artists, scientists, and scholars with awards totaling $82,000.000.00. The successful candidates were chosen from a group of more than 2,600 applicants. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment. A total of seven photographers received this year’s awards. For a full list of 2008 recipients see: www.gf.org/newfellow.html (http://www.gf.org/newfellow.html)
Details: 2008 marks the first year two photographers from southern New Mexico have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships for separate photographic projects.
For Michael P. Berman, whose work is in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; and the Museum of Photographic Arts. San Diego, the award will support his ongoing photographic work in the Chihuahuan desert grasslands of Southern New Mexico, West Texas, and Northern Chihuahua.
<table border=0 align=center><tr><td><caption>Fodder by C. Michael Berman</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Fodder_BMGR_Range_CM_Berman.jpg border=1 align=ccenter vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Fodder (c) by C. Michael Berman"></td></tr></table>
Berman says of the grasslands that he photographs: "I have wandered this landscape - in between, where things fall apart - for a long time. On the west side lies the Sonoran desert with its giant saguaros, and on the east side lies the Chihuahuan Desert. Lately. I’m in love with the Chihuahuan Desert, a minimalist dream of small ranges and grasslands that no one seems to pay much attention to. This desert is like a Rothko painting or one of Serra's smooth black arcs - once you have begun to look closely it takes a lifetime to see what is there. I can argue that this is the most complex collision of ecosystems on the planet. I can tell you that where there used to be ten thousand people there are now a million. I can tell you about the waters beneath closed basins that are being mined for cities, and the plans to drain them dry in exchange for bio-fuels. I can tell you what madness happens on the border of two giant nations. I can tell you a lot of things ... None of this matters. What is important is the land.”
Berman has published two books about his work: Inferno, by The University of Texas Press, with text by Charles Bowden and Sunshot, by the University of Arizona Press, with text by Bill Broyles. In 2010, the University of Texas at Austin Press will publish Berman's photographs in Trinity the third book in the trilogy: The History of the Future. He has received fellowships from the Wurlitzer Foundation and the Arizona Commission of the Arts. For further information on the artists and his work see: www.fragmentedimages.com (http://www.fragmentedimages.com/)
For David J. Taylor whose work is in the permanent collection of many museums including the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago; the Portland Art Museum; and the El Paso Museum of Art, the award will support his continued documentation of the U.S. Border Patrol operations along the US/Mexico border, as well as various sites along both sides of the border that have historical and or contemporary significance. Taylor will also complete his documentation of all 276+ border monuments that demarcate the US/Mexico border.
<table border=0 align=center><tr><td><caption>Border Marker 59 of 276 by David Taylor</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Border_Marker0059.jpg border=1 align=center vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Border Marker 59 © by David Taylor"></td></tr></table>
Taylor says of the borderlands: 'The literal meaning of the word 'frontier' is identical in both English and Spanish. However, its vernacular usage in each language is strikingly different. In the American psyche, the frontier is an elusive destination; the locus of such national allegories as individuality, sell-reliance, and freedom. It is 'The-Great-Out-There-Just-Beyond-the-Horizon.' Conversely. 'la frontera' adheres to literal definitions — it is the border or borderline; it is a barrier. This is not to say that the idea of the frontier doesn't exist in Mexican history. Missionaries and colonists moved into the far north of New Spain in order to fully occupy territory claimed by the Spanish Crown and to complete the conquest that Hernan Cortez set in motion with the capture of Tenochtitlan in 1521. It is just that the United States has cultivated a more potent iconography of the frontier that continues to persist in our collective imagination. The West is still portrayed as a compilation of its romantic icons: grand vistas, rugged cowboys, savage natives and lonely cacti. The ongoing settlement of the western states is, in part, fueled by our belief in those icons. By contrast, the U.S./Mexico border currently exists as a militarized zone in our national consciousness: it is a state of politicized reality that is in direct conflict with our idealized image of the West. Furthermore, to migrants, the border is an obstacle between them and a living wage. I conflate these seemingly discreet, monolithic narratives in my artwork and by doing so I address the highly nuanced and variable nature of the border region."
Taylor has recently been awarded a public art commission to the U.S. General Services Administration for his artwork that will be part of the new federal courthouse in Las Cruces scheduled for completion in 2009.
Both artists will be included in the exhibition. Separating Species: Connecting Exhibitions at 516 Arts in Albuquerque from September 26 through November 21. 2009. David Taylor will be speaking as part of the lecture series for Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe at the Palace of the Governors in August 2009.
2008 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards
<center><table border=0><tr><td><caption>Crossings - by Michael Berman - This image says it all!</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Crossings_M_Berman.jpg border=1 align=center vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Crossings - (c) by Michael Berman - This image says it all!"></td></tr></table></center>
<table border=0 align=right><tr><td><caption>Border Patrol - by David Taylor</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Border_Patrol_Taylor.jpg border=1 align=right vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Border Patrol - (c) by David Taylor"></td></tr></table>Santa Fe, NM - Who/What: Two southern New Mexican photographers. Michael P. Berman who lives in the foothills of the Black Range Mountains along the Mimbres River outside San Lorenzo, NM and David J. Taylor who lives very close to the US/Mexico border in Las Cruces, NM are both honored recipients of 2008 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Awards.
When/Where: On April 3, 2008 the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (New York) announced the winners of its 84th annual competition for the United States and Canada. 190 Fellowships were awarded to artists, scientists, and scholars with awards totaling $82,000.000.00. The successful candidates were chosen from a group of more than 2,600 applicants. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment. A total of seven photographers received this year’s awards. For a full list of 2008 recipients see: www.gf.org/newfellow.html (http://www.gf.org/newfellow.html)
Details: 2008 marks the first year two photographers from southern New Mexico have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships for separate photographic projects.
For Michael P. Berman, whose work is in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; and the Museum of Photographic Arts. San Diego, the award will support his ongoing photographic work in the Chihuahuan desert grasslands of Southern New Mexico, West Texas, and Northern Chihuahua.
<table border=0 align=center><tr><td><caption>Fodder by C. Michael Berman</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Fodder_BMGR_Range_CM_Berman.jpg border=1 align=ccenter vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Fodder (c) by C. Michael Berman"></td></tr></table>
Berman says of the grasslands that he photographs: "I have wandered this landscape - in between, where things fall apart - for a long time. On the west side lies the Sonoran desert with its giant saguaros, and on the east side lies the Chihuahuan Desert. Lately. I’m in love with the Chihuahuan Desert, a minimalist dream of small ranges and grasslands that no one seems to pay much attention to. This desert is like a Rothko painting or one of Serra's smooth black arcs - once you have begun to look closely it takes a lifetime to see what is there. I can argue that this is the most complex collision of ecosystems on the planet. I can tell you that where there used to be ten thousand people there are now a million. I can tell you about the waters beneath closed basins that are being mined for cities, and the plans to drain them dry in exchange for bio-fuels. I can tell you what madness happens on the border of two giant nations. I can tell you a lot of things ... None of this matters. What is important is the land.”
Berman has published two books about his work: Inferno, by The University of Texas Press, with text by Charles Bowden and Sunshot, by the University of Arizona Press, with text by Bill Broyles. In 2010, the University of Texas at Austin Press will publish Berman's photographs in Trinity the third book in the trilogy: The History of the Future. He has received fellowships from the Wurlitzer Foundation and the Arizona Commission of the Arts. For further information on the artists and his work see: www.fragmentedimages.com (http://www.fragmentedimages.com/)
For David J. Taylor whose work is in the permanent collection of many museums including the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago; the Portland Art Museum; and the El Paso Museum of Art, the award will support his continued documentation of the U.S. Border Patrol operations along the US/Mexico border, as well as various sites along both sides of the border that have historical and or contemporary significance. Taylor will also complete his documentation of all 276+ border monuments that demarcate the US/Mexico border.
<table border=0 align=center><tr><td><caption>Border Marker 59 of 276 by David Taylor</caption><img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/Border_Marker0059.jpg border=1 align=center vspace=5 hspace=5 alt="Border Marker 59 © by David Taylor"></td></tr></table>
Taylor says of the borderlands: 'The literal meaning of the word 'frontier' is identical in both English and Spanish. However, its vernacular usage in each language is strikingly different. In the American psyche, the frontier is an elusive destination; the locus of such national allegories as individuality, sell-reliance, and freedom. It is 'The-Great-Out-There-Just-Beyond-the-Horizon.' Conversely. 'la frontera' adheres to literal definitions — it is the border or borderline; it is a barrier. This is not to say that the idea of the frontier doesn't exist in Mexican history. Missionaries and colonists moved into the far north of New Spain in order to fully occupy territory claimed by the Spanish Crown and to complete the conquest that Hernan Cortez set in motion with the capture of Tenochtitlan in 1521. It is just that the United States has cultivated a more potent iconography of the frontier that continues to persist in our collective imagination. The West is still portrayed as a compilation of its romantic icons: grand vistas, rugged cowboys, savage natives and lonely cacti. The ongoing settlement of the western states is, in part, fueled by our belief in those icons. By contrast, the U.S./Mexico border currently exists as a militarized zone in our national consciousness: it is a state of politicized reality that is in direct conflict with our idealized image of the West. Furthermore, to migrants, the border is an obstacle between them and a living wage. I conflate these seemingly discreet, monolithic narratives in my artwork and by doing so I address the highly nuanced and variable nature of the border region."
Taylor has recently been awarded a public art commission to the U.S. General Services Administration for his artwork that will be part of the new federal courthouse in Las Cruces scheduled for completion in 2009.
Both artists will be included in the exhibition. Separating Species: Connecting Exhibitions at 516 Arts in Albuquerque from September 26 through November 21. 2009. David Taylor will be speaking as part of the lecture series for Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe at the Palace of the Governors in August 2009.