Shape-Shifting Times

2014 - 2019

Since the invention of the medium, photographers have lugged bulky cameras to remote corners of the earth in order to return with telling moments of their sojourn. In fact, we often define the past through these frozen fragments of time and arguably perceive more information through photographs than words or drawings could ever provide. There are many such predecessors: Francis Frith, Carleton Watkins, Samuel Bourne, and Walker Evans, to name just a few, who have charted their journeys through the medium of the photographic image and made our understanding of the world richer for their efforts. In such a way, Peter has given us a privileged front-row seat to a chapter in the life of contemporary Saudi Arabia.

Through Peter’s lens we are given access to the evolution of an ancient culture, and its transformation into a contemporary landscape both in its architecture and its revision of cultural mores. However, the new Arabian edifices are poorly suited to the intense heat of the land, and exist in stark juxtaposition to the country’s fragile historic sites and a disappearing way of life. Instead they co-exist with discarded plastics, tires, and refuse accumulating in the creases of both city and countryside. In his eloquent images, Peter Bogaczewicz continually returns to the built environment, and a reborn country that still appears on its surface like a backdrop to a uniquely privileged life, but is not exempt from the familiar and inevitable modern dichotomy of growth versus waste.

Introduction by Edward Burtynsky