English
Until 24 June, the Fundación Henri Cartier-Bresson will be exhibiting the project American Power by the artist, Mitch Epstein. The exhibition is based on a series of photographs in which Epstein explores American landscape and society by means of its relation to the power plants that provide the country’s energy.
Mitch Epstein was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1952. He studied in the Rhode Island School of Design as well as Cooper Union in New York, where Garry Winogrand was also a student. Epstein experimented with colour photography and helped in its redefinition, an important development, as in the 70s colour photography was used principally in advertising and was not considered a valid medium in the art world.
In the 70s he travelled the length of the USA, conducting a photographic exploration. In 1978 he travelled to India where he worked as cinematographer in various films, such as Salaam Bombay and India Cabaret. He also found time to make a book there: In Pursuit of India.
Epstein’s quest to depict cultural behaviour and the workings of society led him to Vietnam in the 90s. There, after a long learning process in which he came to understand the history of the country, its colonial past, its wars and the imposition of a modernity alien to its ancient culture, Epstein finished the book Vietnam: A Book of Changes, which was prefaced by Susan Sontag.
His last great work, American Power, won the Prix Pictet photography and environmental sustainability prize in 2011 which was presented to him by Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. The project began as an assignment from The New York Times to photograph the destruction of the town of Cheshire, Ohio, which was being emptied and razed to the ground after having been contaminated by the local power plant. This situation inspired him to spend five years investigating other places at environmental risk around the USA in order to photograph them.
American Power is an important protest against environmental exploitation by big business and government. Using these images Epstein has begun a public art project with his wife, Susan Bell, in which they use billboards, posters and a webpage to “inspire and educate people about environmental issues”.
More information: http://www.henricartierbresson.org/prog/PROG_expos_fr.htm
Nancy Guzman
The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation´s interesting exhibition is a good bet if you´re renting apartments in Paris and feel like enjoying some thought provoking entertainment.
Translated by: Ben Palmer
