Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed
The Artist as Witness
Through December 1
Through December 1
Humanity’s impact on the natural landscape is undeniable even when human figures are not immediately visible.
In late 2005, Montreal hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Government ministers, scientists, leaders of nongovern- mental organizations and journalists gathered for this annual meeting of countries participating in the Kyoto Protocol, a policy aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses. American photographer Joel Sternfeld gained access to the conference using newspaper credentials. He hoped to answer a question for himself: “I wanted to know if climate change was real.” What he found was worse than what he expected. “In the opinion of nearly all the par - ticipants, not only was climate change occurring, it was also about to reach a tipping point and become irrevers- ible.” Using a telephoto lens from close-up, Sternfeld trained his camera on a range of participants to create an “archive of humanity” amid what was then a largely invisible ecological crisis. “I tried to take photographs of delegates at the moment when the horror of what they were hearing was visible on their faces. At stake, after all, is the continuation of Earth as a planet fit for us to live on.” Sternfeld published “When It Changed,” a book of these images, in 2007. It outlines alarming scientific discov - eries, the actions and inactions of governments and cor- porations and increasingly extreme weather events. This exhibition presents the photographs from that book. At this watershed moment in global environmental history, and in the face of an ever-unfurling stream of evidence, Sternfeld is emphatic: we cannot say that we did not know that our world had changed.
This selection of works from the museum’s permanent collection serves as a visual response to the exhibition “Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed.” Artists including Arthur Tress, Robert von Sternberg and Diane Farris illustrate how human enterprise has reshaped the natural landscape. Some works trace the entanglement of human life and environmental change. Others catalogue the environment’s natural processes of self-preservation and renewal. Sternfeld’s photographs focus on the people and diplomatic powers that have shaped the global response to climate change. The artists and works in this companion installation recenter the impacted landscapes and surreal scenes of our changing environments.
Curator: Kathryn Hill, associate curator of contemporary art, and Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, George Putnam Curator of American Art, Peabody Essex Museum
Curator: Kathryn Hill, associate curator of contemporary art, with assistance by Mary Alice Smith (UGA ’24)
Jason Thrasher (American, b. 1970), “Murmur Trestle,” 2013, printed 2024. Photographic ink on paper. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation. GMOA 2024.115. Arturo Soto (Mexican, b. 1981), untitled, from “All Lovely Things Will Have an Ending,” 2006. Color photograph, 26 × 36 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of the artist. GMOA 2022.28.
Joel Sternfeld (American, b. 1944), “Latsoucabé Fall, Director of Planning and Equipment, Senelec Energy, Senegal,” from the “When It Changed” series, 2005 (negatives), printed 2021. Pigment print, 33 × 55 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of an anonymous donor. GMOA 2024.12.
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