Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape

Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape presents the latest body of work from Stephen Shore: a series of photographs shot by drone from 2020 onwards, which reveal in arresting detail the interplay of natural and man-made landscapes in Montana, North Carolina, New York, and beyond.

In this new body of work, Shore revisits the original ambitions of the renowned 1975 exhibition ‘New Topographics’, using a new aerial viewpoint to consider afresh the concerns of the movement – the objective, the commonplace, and the relationship of the natural and man-made in the American landscape – reflecting on how these might be applied in the twenty-first century.

As much as exploring the formal possibilities of the aerial photograph, Topographies displays a glorious dedication to detail and surprise, in which the slightest bend of a river or turn of a shadow uncovers the textures and colours of America’s urban and suburban landscapes, all investigated with Shore’s signature rigour.