The Black Rock Desert is an expansive stretch of undeveloped desert north of Reno, Nev. – a place “where the pavement ends.” It is a gallery of nature’s beauty, and for one week every year it is transformed into Black Rock City during the legendary Burning Man festival.
In their book “Black Rock,” photographer Peter Goin and geographer Paul F. Starrs, through their respective professions, take a look at this impressive region. From an image of a Shell gas station that sits alone in the desert night, to the sight of a trio of geysers erupting into the desert air, Goin’s work captures every aspect of life in Black Rock country.
Starting May 2 and continuing until June 15, Goin’s photographs from “Black Rock” will be on display at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
Goin, foundation professor of art at the University of Nevada, Reno, gets his inspiration from the landscapes of the western United States – specifically the Black Rock country, which he has been photographing for 30 years.
“You can be the only person in 400 square miles,” he said. “It is an environment you can’t ignore. You can’t avoid it.”
But his work is more than just pictures of pretty scenery. Goin says he wants his photos to serve as a record of the desert environment before it is inevitably altered, and that he wants people to walk away from his work with a sense of something more than just awe.
“I hope people will realize that there’s a layered, complex interpretation of a landscape,” he said. “We need to look at the places we live with a little more intensity.”
Susie Morrill, chairwoman for Photography at Oregon and a Lane Community College photography instructor, helped bring Goin to the University. She appreciates Goin for his depth and purpose of work.
“His work is photographically very strong. It works in a fine art form, but also a journalistic form,” she said. “He’s a very active, working photo-grapher…working towards social change.”
Goin’s decision to pursue photography as a means of social change came about while he was working for a congressman, where he says he quickly learned that politics is more about power than it is about ideas. Goin was more interested in the communication of ideas and realized that photography could accomplish the communication he desired.
“People understand images and are often influenced by them,” he said. “I’m able to contribute…in a more effective way; the arts has a greater reach than politics.”
Although Morrill calls Goin a “dynamic speaker,” it’s his photography that really becomes his voice in the world.
“I use the message of fine arts to speak with…eloquence about the issues we live with,” he said.
Whether those issues include preservation of Black Rock or merely appreciation of nature’s fragility, Goin makes his points with his striking images of the desert environment. But if his photo of Soldier Meadows Hot Springs is any indication, with two children floating in the water surrounded by pure, undeveloped wilderness, his work may become a record of how things were sooner than he expected.
“It’s almost a luxury to view a landscape where humans don’t have a significant presence,” he said.
Fans of photography who hope to get a closer look into Goin’s art can do so tonight, when he speaks about his work and how it fits into the wider realm of fine art and the history of art at 7:00 p.m. in 115 Lawrence.
“Images from Black Rock: Photographs by Peter Goin” will be on display at the Museum of Art until June 15, and admittance is free to UO students.
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