April 3, 2012 - June 30, 2012

Unnatural Formations: Three Contemporary Photographers featured the work of three recent ASF Fellows—Stephen Hilyard, Simen Johan, and Lydia Anne McCarthy—who have emerged as innovators in the field of contemporary landscape photography,

Unnatural Formations: Three Contemporary Photographers celebrates the 100th anniversary of the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s fellowship program. Featuring the work of three recent grant recipients—Stephen Hilyard, Simen Johan, and Lydia Anne McCarthy—who have emerged as innovators in the field of contemporary landscape photography, the exhibition offers a unique look at hybrid photographs where disparate and sometimes dissonant images are woven together to create new, hypothetical landscapes.

Unnatural Formations explores the ways in which photographers access, engage, and even exploit unique elements of Nordic terrain and climate for expressive effect. Through various techniques of photographic manipulation, the artists construct landscapes at once familiar and alien, natural and artificial, ultimately calling into question perceptions of reality and artifice.

The photographs on view, taken from discrete series of work originating out of the respective artists’ ASF Fellowship experiences, underscore the importance of international study to the arts.

The ASF Fellowship Program is the Foundation’s longest-standing commitment to cultural and educational exchange and, over the last 100 years, has awarded over 5,500 fellowships and grants to Americans and Scandinavians. Unnatural Formations: Three Contemporary Photographers was curated by Pari Stave, ASF Consulting Curator.

April 3, 2012
June 30, 2012
Simen Johan, Untitled #136

Exhibitions of Contemporary Art at Scandinavia House are made possible by the generous support of The F. Donald Kenney Fund for the Visual Arts and The Bonnier Family Fund for Contemporary Art.