Once known as the “petroleum graveyard,” Beneath the Dirt of Great Men exposes the carbon landscape in the Permian Basin of Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. With climate change, land use, and energy policy at the forefront of our national consciousness, the work contemplates the extraction of crude oil and natural gas in the largest reserve of these natural resources in the United States.
The portfolio series juxtaposes waste water evaporation ponds that are used in hydraulic fracking and drilling operations to discover oil and gas deposits hidden in shale formations with the grave markers of the skeletal remains of decommissioned oil pump jacks. In juxtaposition, the photographs reflect on our willingness and desire to abuse and disregard the natural landscape for resources in what is becoming an unsustainable way of life for us, the climate and the earth.
24 – 11 x 8-1/2 inch archival pigment prints on Canson Prestige II
1 text sheet on Canson Rag Photographique
1 index sheet on Canson Prestige II
Bookcloth covered book binders boards with 2 tipped-in images on covers
Tri-fold binding with four-flap archival folder
Edition: 10 + 1 AP
COLLECTIONS
Scripps College, Denison Library Special Collections
Stanford University, Bowes Art & Architecture Library
University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library Pictorial Collections
University of California, Santa Cruz, McHenry Library, Special Collections
University of Southern California, Special Collections
Private Collection (La Jolla)
Private Collection (San Diego)