JORDAN NATIONAL GALLERY OF FINE ARTS
Amman, Jordan
I Hear America Singing: Contemporary Photography From America
Fall 2021
Curated by Ashley Lumb
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The first exhibition of American photography to take place in Amman, Jordan, I Hear America Singing: Contemporary Photography from America deconstructs a singular notion of national identity to convey the United States’ kaleidoscopic diversity. Through a combination of digital, analogue, conceptual and archival approaches, the sixteen photographers exhibited here offer a collective rebuke to a foundational legacy of white male cultural hegemony. By acutely interrogating the nuanced landscape of American identity and its ideological elisions, their work helps to broaden the lexicon of the country’s visual culture and the people it represents.
The exhibition is divided into three main parts – Landscape, Portraiture, and American History. The stunning large-scale images of aerial photographer Alex Maclean, taken from his Agriculture (2016) and Arid Lands (2009) series, demonstrate a tension between civilization and nature. Their bold colors and geometric forms beguile, but equally signify an environment denuded by anthropogenic activity.