Sunset 17 - 1999

Curator: Here we have Terry Evans' "Sunset", a photograph created sometime between 1997 and 1999. Editor: It feels vast, somehow. The long grasses, that hazy horizon, that expanse of pale sky. I almost feel dwarfed, as if I'm actually there standing in this field, the last light warming my face. Curator: Evans is renowned for capturing the essence of the American prairie, specifically the tallgrass prairie. What might read as a simple landscape study carries a deeper weight, reflective of ecological concerns and our relationship to place. Editor: It reminds me of those Color Field paintings, where they used blocks of color to evoke emotion. The way Evans has layered those bands of sky and grass. So soothing. Did she manipulate the colors at all, do you think? Curator: There is a history of American photography being deployed for conservation purposes—artists visually mapping the environment and shaping public opinion. I see that at play here. However, her methods remain largely natural. Terry's interest lay not in artifice but capturing subtle shifts in light. The diptych format also provides a visual field—doubling our intake. Editor: Yes, I get that. It's incredibly effective. Like a slow-motion meditation almost. The way the light paints everything a soft gold…I wonder what it smelled like standing there. That dry grass scent must've been intense. It's a reminder that these apparently simple scenes are layered with invisible sensory information. Curator: Landscape photography carries a complicated legacy. While we admire its beauty, it can sometimes sanitize or romanticize the realities of land use and ecological impact. But maybe works like these compel us to remember the ecological stakes. Editor: Maybe, yes! Because looking at this makes me yearn to just be in a place like that. To step away from the frenetic nature of, well, everything and appreciate what is left, while we can. Curator: Evans invites us to find beauty and, perhaps, responsibility in the seemingly ordinary corners of the prairie. I find this photograph both simple and expansive, as we see she prompts complex thought within limited perspective. Editor: For me it's about finding a stillness, even if it is fleeting, inside a huge, overwhelming world. That moment of sunset, captured here, gives us both that sense of place and inner serenity.