Shapiro Center Webinar: Nineteenth-Century Nature and Contemporary Photography

Contemporary voices in the exhibition “Storm Cloud: Picturing the Origins of Our Climate Crisis” bring forward questions of environmental history to the present. The conversation will cover such topics as land extraction, human influence on plants, environmental injustice, immigration, photographic technologies, and reparative histories.
Lectures

The exhibition “Storm Cloud: Picturing the Origins of Our Climate Crisis” charts the emerging awareness of human impact on the environment over the course of the 19th century. The show traces varied reactions to industrialization across writing and the visual arts, as well as the emerging sciences of geology, meteorology, and ecology. The inclusion of five contemporary artists whose work references 19th-century themes and photographic techniques demonstrates an engagement with these legacies.

The Shapiro Center presents an event focused on some of the contemporary voices in “Storm Cloud” who bring forward questions of environmental history to the present. Karla Nielsen, The Huntington’s senior curator of literary collections and co-curator of the exhibition, will briefly introduce the historical materials to which these artists’ work is juxtaposed. Linde B. Lehtinen, The Huntington’s Philip D. Nathanson Senior Curator of Photography, will then lead a conversation with three of the artists, Binh Danh, Leah Sobsey, and Will Wilson.

The program will cover such topics as land extraction, human influence on plants, environmental injustice, immigration, photographic technologies, and reparative histories.

A cyanotype imprint of leaves over a handwritten letter.

Leah Sobsey, The Fall of the Leaf: Woodland Sunflower, 2022. | This series was originally commissioned by the Harvard Museum of Natural History for the exhibition “In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers.”

The Shapiro Center was created to advance scholarship, knowledge, and understanding of American history and culture—especially of the early republic and of the nation’s founders and leaders.

Sept. 14, 2024–Jan. 6, 2025 | “Storm Cloud” analyzes the impact of industrialization and a globalized economy on everyday life from 1780 to 1930, as charted by scientists, artists, and writers, and contextualizes the current climate crisis within this historical framework.

The exhibition “Storm Cloud: Picturing the Origins of Our Climate Crisis” has been made possible with support from Getty through its PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative.

Red sun dial logo with text reading PST Art

Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART, returned in September 2024 with more than 70 exhibitions from museums and other institutions across the region, all exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information, visit PST ART: Art & Science Collide