Continuing through August 28, 2011
Subhankar Banerjee's exhibition, "Where I Live I Hope to Know" could be mistaken for a visual treatise on ecology. Instead, it's more a liturgy of cyclic life that reminds us that the deepest and richest things are not only hidden, they reside in the most unexpected of places. Banerjee's works, large photographic images adhered to Plexiglas in ways that make it look dreamily milky, depict native New Mexican landscapes. The artist went for walks and continually chronicled the life of field mice, gophers, cacti, piñon trees as well as other flora and fauna. What emerges is far more intricate than the calculus of environmental change.
While we witness split trees that harbor creatures even as they decay, this is no biology lesson. Rather, it could be viewed as a theological exercise in kenosis. This is the stuff of Psalms, and Banerjee makes us dive deep. In several of the pieces birds are hidden in ways that make them nearly impossible to discern. However, this is no mere sleight of hand. Rather, it's a kind of leitmotif that reminds us that we're constantly strolling past magic. Luckily, this show is one terrific way of learning to look more closely.
Amon Carter Museum
