Safe-T-Gallery
is pleased to present “Ancient Earthworks
of North America”, an exhibition of the idiosyncratic, thoughtful,
and quite beautiful images of photographer Don Burmeister. The large-format
color photographs concentrate on the relationships between these very
old, earthen relics of early Native American civilizations and the often
baffling modern environment that surrounds them.
Scattered throughout the mid-western and southern states are thousands
of ancient earthworks, structures that in some cases are as old as the
pyramids of Egypt
and that in many cases predate the arrival of Europeans by hundreds of years.
These “Indian Mounds” and “Effigy Mounds” numbered in
the tens of thousands when the first European settlers arrived. Over the years
many of the mounds were destroyed, some were simply worn down by years of plowing,
while others were consciously removed from the landscape to make way for the
advance of roads, houses and indeed, parking lots.
But the relationship of the majority culture to these artifacts has always been
equivocal. Early European settlers often used the mound sites for their own sacred
ground, churches and especially cemeteries were often placed at these sites.
Other settlers recognized the special nature of the earthworks and incorporated
them into park lands or central squares. As a result thousands of these ancient
structures still survive in the modern landscape.
The ongoing ambiguous relationship between modern American culture and these
reminders of earlier civilizations is the subject matter for this ongoing photographic
series. “I’m not interested in making pretty pictures of some imaginary
past,” says Burmeister, “My interest is in trying to visualize the
many layers of meaning that are present in what is essentially a pile of dirt
sitting by the side of the road -- right now.”
Critic Stephen Maine writes on Artnet.com , “His large,
crisply detailed
color photographs ... are quietly stunning.... Burmeister’s interest is
clearly in the clash between the sanctity of the cemetery and the profanity of
the encroaching strip malls and housing developments. The pictures chillingly
capture that tension.” <link> While Carol Schwartzman writes in Wburg magazine, “(his
photographs) offer a stunning context for process and the strange twists taken
by time and its historical-minded bedfellow, culture. These pictures somehow
grab me right in my American belly.” <link>
The exhibition opens on November 24th and runs through December 23rd. There will
be a public reception for the artist on Thursday, November 30th, from 6 to 8
PM at the gallery.