Lecture: A Dialogue with Rebecca Solnit on the Altered Landscape

I attended the lecture given by Rebecca Solnit at the Nevada Museum of Art.  After a brief introduction to Rebecca’s writing career, Solnit and Colin M. Robertson, the Charles N. Mathewson Curator of Education, viewed slides of some of the photographs in the Altered Landscape exhibit. The conversation was very rambling, with Solnit moving swiftly through her thoughts on the works being viewed, and her own personal experiences.  Solnit seems to have a complicated relationship with critique, stating that often “Criticism wants to chop everything up in little pieces and to have the last word.”  She dismissed that practice, saying that she is interested in the larger story, what these works actually mean; she was familiar with many of the works in the Altered Landscape, and while appreciating the aesthetic appeal, she spoke at length about what the pieces could mean, the story behind it, what the artist intended the viewer to or not see.

Solnit compared the pieces in the Altered Landscape to the ideal, perfected natural photographs of Ansel Adams. Why did Adams not wish the viewer to see the human element in his photographs? Does the artist’s intent change the meaning of the work? While Solnit believes in the importance of the artist’s intent, she also believes that we limit ourselves if we don’t try to discover our own meanings in art.

In regards to the environmental aspect inherent in the exhibit, Solnit related her long history with environmental and political, activism, and discussed the human obsession with a pristine landscape that doesn’t exist anymore. Her solution to the current environmental issues is to embrace the current peopled landscape, and to use it wisely, taking a systemic approach.

The dialogue was very enjoyable, and Solnit was very impassioned yet personable. She brought up issues of feminism in regards to environmentalism, and had obviously put much thought into the matter. She brought up the Madonna/Whore complex and compared it to our ideal that landscapes need to be pristine or else they are completely sullied.

When Solnit opened the floor for questions, I asked “Where does our obsession with a pristine landscape come from?” She believed that this came from a masculine ideal to be the first to claim something, to be the first to do something, an obsession with virginity.