Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography

Press Release

Dependent on valuable metals from its inception, pictures has all the time been intertwined with the pure assets which are elementary to trendy industrialized life. Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography is the primary exhibition to completely study how photographers from the mid-Nineteenth century to immediately have powerfully captured the consequences of useful resource extraction on the land and communities of the United States. Featuring some 150 pictures that span 185 years, this exhibition focuses particularly on the subterranean removing of the minerals and fossil fuels that energy this nation’s economic system and business. Together, these works exhibit how photographers have drawn on altering know-how and distinctive visible methods to rise to the problem of picturing these colossal industries.

Made for a wide range of functions, starting from industrial boosterism and celebration of technical development to social documentation and neighborhood activism, the photographs within the exhibition make clear how pictures has revealed the prices of extraction and who advantages from its success. Divided into six broad, chronological sections that contextualize the complicated historical past of pictures and extraction, from daguerreotypes of the Gold Rush to large-scale, immersive pictures made within the final decade, Beneath the Surface highlights how artists have used pictures to discover the connection between extraction, society, and the surroundings.

This exhibition is curated by Diane Waggoner, curator of pictures, National Gallery of Art, and Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Milwaukee Art Museum.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Major help for the exhibition has been offered by the Center for Contemporary
Documentation.

The exhibition can be made doable via the management help of the Trellis Charitable Fund.

Additional help for this exhibition was offered by Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman.

Exhibition Tour

National Gallery of Art, Washington, May 23–August 23, 2026
Milwaukee Art Museum, October 23, 2026–January 17, 2027
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, February 14–May 9, 2027