BATON ROUGE, LA.- The Louisiana Art & Science Museum is presenting Preserving Paradise: The Vision of C.C. Lockwood, a feature exhibition in the Republic Finance Gallery celebrating more than five decades of extraordinary photography and environmental education by renowned Louisiana photographer C.C. Lockwood. The exhibition opened September 25, 2026, in conjunction with LASM’s 41st Annual Gala: Louisiana Untamed, an annual celebration supporting the museum’s educational mission of creating lifelong explorers of art and science.

For more than 50 years, Lockwood has traveled the waterways, swamps, marshes, forests and wild landscapes of Louisiana and beyond, documenting the beauty and complexity of the natural world. His photographs, recognized nationally through his work with National Geographic Magazine and numerous books and publications, combine artistic vision with careful observation of the environment.

While Lockwood has photographed remarkable places around the world, few landscapes have shaped his work as profoundly as Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, the largest river basin swamp in the United States. Its ancient cypress forests, winding waterways, abundant wildlife and constantly changing landscape became both his studio and his classroom.

Working from tents, boats and pirogues, Lockwood spent countless hours observing and photographing the Basin. His images reveal a landscape that is at once beautiful, mysterious, and scientifically significant. They also provide a visual record of a changing Louisiana and a reminder of the importance of protecting the state’s wetlands and wild places.

Through photography and storytelling, Preserving Paradise invites visitors to see Louisiana’s natural world through Lockwood’s eyes. The exhibition celebrates the artistic power of photography while encouraging curiosity about the science, ecology and conservation of the landscapes that help define Louisiana. “I am proud to show my vision of wildlife and other natural history in this exhibit to continue what they have been doing for all these years,” Lockwood said. “LASM has offered the public art, history, beauty, culture and education about our natural habitats and other subjects for 50 years.”

Located within the exhibition, The Coastal Classroom, inspired by C.C. Lockwood’s books, videos, and Marsh Mission, highlights his lifelong commitment to protecting Louisiana’s wetlands through art, photography, and education. The interactive space features Lockwood’s complete library, a slide activity using his original photographs, a tent and campfire, and hands-on activities. The classroom reflects the 2004 Marsh Mission, when Lockwood, his wife Sue, and their dog Annie lived aboard the Wetland Wanderer and traveled more than 5,000 miles through Louisiana’s swamplands with landscape painter Rhea Gary, documenting the beauty of a vanishing ecosystem and inspiring others to protect it.

Tracey Barhorst, Curator and Director of Art Programs at LASM, said the exhibition reflects the museum’s unique commitment to bringing art and science together. “C.C. Lockwood has an extraordinary ability to make us stop and look. His photographs are beautiful works of art, but they also tell the story of living ecosystems. That intersection of beauty, observation, and scientific discovery is exactly where LASM’s mission comes to life.”

For LASM, Preserving Paradise: The Vision of C.C. Lockwood offers an opportunity to celebrate Louisiana not only as a place of extraordinary natural beauty, but as a living laboratory where art, science, culture, and conservation intersect. Preserving Paradise is now on view at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum.