PHOENIX, AZ.- In the spring, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) will present Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape, an expansive photography exhibition that features the work of nearly 20 contemporary artists examining environmental history and degradation, particularly in the American landscape, as well as urgent concerns about climate change, through the camera lens. Organized by Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Widening the Lens invites viewers to reconsider their relationship to the environment and explore how photography can help envision new paths forward. Widening the Lens will be on view at Phoenix Art Museum from February 26 – June 15, 2025.

“We are excited to bring Widening the Lens to Phoenix in continuation of the Museum’s long history of presenting thought-provoking programming centered on the environment and American landscape to our audiences,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Widening the Lens is a particularly compelling opportunity to explore contemporary artists’ use of photography to expand our understanding of the natural world, its history, and the ways in which people impact it, both positively and negatively. The exhibition will provide an intriguing counterpoint to the landscape works on view in our American art galleries, offering insight into how perceptions and the reality of the American landscape have changed through time.”

Featuring nearly 65 works by 18 lens-based artists, including black-and-white images and sculptural installations, Widening the Lens defies traditional conceptions of photography to infuse the landscape with a greater awareness of histories, natural forces, and inhabitants going back thousands of years. The exhibition is arranged across four thematic sections. Archive challenges dominant narratives established in historical photographs. Remembering delves into nature as a memorial landscape, charged with the complexity of human identity and personal relationships. Pathfinding features works of art that illuminate human adaptability, complicity, and paralysis in the environment. Finally, Horizon looks toward the future and considers environmental anxiety, anticipation, possibility, and alternative paths forward.

“I am delighted to share this powerful and richly layered exhibition with our audiences here in Arizona,” said Emilia Mickevicius, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography at Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. “Widening the Lens features a phenomenal and diverse roster of artists who are working at critical intersections of landscape with history, identity, and climate change. Together, they present a thrillingly expansive take on the potential of landscape photography. I hope that experiencing the exhibition in our setting of the Sonoran Desert will inspire visitors to look at our surrounding landscape with fresh eyes.”