Left: Emmet Gowin (American, b. 1941), Copper Ore Tailing, Globe, Arizona, 1988. Toned gelatin silver print. Collection of Emmet and Edith Gowin
Right: William Blake (English, 1757-1827), Behemoth and Leviathan, illustration for the Book of Job, ca. 1805-10. Pen and black and gray ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over faint indications in graphite. Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909, 2001.77
Gowin’s aerial photographs explore the relationship between humanity, history, and the earth. The subject of this work—a mound of copper ore tailing left behind by a nineteenth-century mine—hints at the destructive side of human productivity. Gowin sees similar dualities in Blake’s art: “I like that Blake identifies evil with energy and exuberance with life, and defines our task as the reconciliation of these apparent opposites. The energy that drives us is good; and the evil—energy—that drives us is as much a part of us as the good.”