Label TextOngoing since 1979, Richard Misrach’s “Desert Cantos” project encompasses hundreds
of photographs within 40 subgroups. The title of the project references Ezra Pound’s
unfinished epic poem on which he worked for 50 years. Misrach’s ethereal images of the
desert landscape are visually seductive representations of nature devastated by the
ecological effects of human intervention. “You look at landscape, but it’s not really
landscape, it’s a symbol for our country, it’s a metaphor for our country.” In Drive-in
Theater, Las Vegas (1987), Misrach captures an eerily beautiful empty drive-in theater in
the Nevada desert. From the subseries “American History Lessons,” this is a theater
without an audience, a metaphor for the increasing atomization of American life. In
Submerged House Foundation, Salton Sea (1985), the photographer finds beauty in
ecological disaster, capturing the semi-submerged ruins that are the vestiges of the now
defunct tourist industry in the area. The Salton Sea was an accidental man-made
creation when a poorly constructed irrigation canal failed in 1905. Until the 1970s, it was
a tourist attraction. Since that time, the lake has been contaminated by agricultural
runoff. As the sea continues to dry up, this runoff has led to noxious algal blooms and
dying wildlife. A part of Misrach’s “Canto III: The Flood” series (1983-85), the title alludes
to the biblical story, but this destruction has been wrought by human neglect and a lack
of care for the natural environment.
DimensionsSheet: 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
Accession Number 2025.334
Classificationsphotograph
Edition2/7
Portfolio/Series"American History Lessons"
ProvenanceShowtime Networks, Inc.; Allie Haeusslein, San Francisco [purchased from the previous]; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 2025]
