Ansley West Rivers is an artist whose photographic practice focuses on the intersection of landscape and humanity. Her work is featured in many public and private collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, The Microsoft Corporation, The Telfair Museums, The Judge Collection, LaGrange Art Museum and The Mayo Collection. Additionally, West Rivers's work has been shown at the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art (San Francisco, CA), Sous Les Etoiles Gallery (New York, NY), Burrard Arts Foundation (Vancouver BC), EUQINOM Gallery (San Francisco, CA), The Brower Center (Berkley, CA), Kala Art Institute (Berkley, CA), Carmel Visual Arts (Carmel, CA), Hathaway Gallery (Atlanta, GA), United Photo Industries (DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY), The Print Center (Philadelphia, PA), The Wiregrass Museum (Dothan, AL), PhotoLondon (London, England), and Laney Contemporary (Savannah, GA).
She received her BFA from the University of Georgia and MFA from the California College of the Arts. She currently lives with her husband and two children in Victor, Idaho.
RIVERS PROJECT- Artist Statement:
“The photographs are a series of constructed landscapes echoing the reality of civilizations impact on the earth, but also celebrating the beauty that exists even in the most fraught ecosystems. The history of water has woven its stories into my mine, complicating the landscapes I see with the ones I envision. Loss compounded with possibility began to build within my compositions. The images are layered with my visions of the past, present and future watersheds.
I began this project in 2013 when I decided to photograph seven rivers across the United States: the Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi, Columbia, Rio Grande, Tuolumne, Altamaha, and the Hudson, from source to sea.
In 2020, I began photographing my own watersheds, the Snake and Teton Rivers. My weekly pilgrimages to the rivers that support myself and my family has been truly eye opening. I notice subtle changes in the landscape because of my familiar relationship. I create images that speak a far greater truth together than any single image.
As I witness the beauty, degradation and changes occurring on all rivers, I have come to view our watersheds with expanding emotion. The struggle to depict the complicated waterscapes has spurred new ways of photographing with my large format camera. I create compositions on each negative to portray an intimacy rather than documentation. I layer several shots on each piece of film through masking techniques made in camera.
The history of landscape photography in the United States is inspiring and complicated. I have climbed mountains, floated streams, and walked through forests that have enthralled the lineage of artists before me. I too have lugged heavy equipment and negatives on my back to capture the landscapes that support us physically and emotionally. But I am not shooting to lure people out West, prove the magic of live oaks or depict the novelty of wilderness. My goal differs as it is directed by the present. I too seek to depict the beauty that exists within every riverbend, but I no longer see the infinite, I am faced with the finite. In my compositions, I create within the context of the past and the present to bring more clearly into view the lifespan of fresh water, with the hope of not creating evidence of lost landscapes.”
