Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography

Spanning 180 years of photography, _Beneath the Surface_ explores how artists have worked to make visible the mining and drilling that power modern life yet often remain unseen. From 19th-century documentation to striking contemporary artworks, the exhibition traces how generations of photographers have developed new ways to picture the expansive yet elusive activities of extracting, transporting, and processing natural resources across the United States. The photographs reveal the transformed landscapes, affected communities, and laboring workers and systems behind the technologies we use every day—including photography, which requires precious metals like light-sensitive silver for historical processes and copper for digital camera batteries today. Bringing together iconic images and novel discoveries, _Beneath the Surface_ invites visitors to consider photography's power to shape public understanding of extractive activities as well as their environmental, social, and human consequences. This exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and is co-curated by Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and Diane Waggoner, acting head and curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art.