Through images that capture the beauty, changes, and even devastation to the American landscape, photographers have played a vital role in advocating for the preservation of nature via the establishment and maintenance of state parks, national parks and monuments, and other federally protected lands. 

 Public Domain: Photography and the Preservation of Public Lands includes works drawn primarily from the Asheville Art Museum Collection by artists looking both regionally and nationally at state or federally managed lands. From George Masa’s and Timothy McCoy’s photographs of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to a selection of works from Robert Glenn Ketchum’s Overlooked in America: The Success and Failure of Federal Land Management series and more, these artworks ask viewers to contemplate nature’s beauty and call to protect it.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, whose mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.

This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator.