Archaeology Southwest - Exploring and protecting the places of our past

Oblique Views

Linda J. Pierce, Deputy Director and Oblique Views project leader

Time and change are constant subjects of the rephotographic process. Photographs may represent a specific time, but change is the true measure of time passing. The scale of change often depends on the perspective of the viewer, on what is known about a subject, and on the way change is measured.
(Klett 2004 – Third Views, Second Sights: A Rephotographic Survey of the American West)

The Oblique Views project is exploring the scale of change that has taken place in the varied and multi-layered cultural landscape of the northern American Southwest. The 20th century was a time of great cultural and technological changes throughout the United States, and the Southwest was not immune to the effects of these transformations. Although visitors and residents of the region today may perceive the landscape as timeless and unchanged since prehistoric times, the reality is more complex. The effects of human occupation can be read across the landscape, once the viewer understands what to look for. This aerial rephotography project is designed to provide people an opportunity to explore changes in the region’s complex cultural landscapes and to come to a deeper understanding of the stories in those landscapes.

Our project is based upon the rephotography of a number of aerial photographs of the American Southwest taken in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The majority are from a collection of oblique aerial photographs of archaeological sites, contemporary settlements, and general landscapes taken by the famous pilot Charles Lindbergh in July 1929 while scouting the final route for the first trans-American air transport line. These will be supplemented by several images of the Hopi mesas from the Sinclair Expedition of 1934. Noted aerial photographer Adriel Heisey is creating the rephotographs (exact duplicates) of the places recorded in the original images. Places featured in the photographs include Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon, the Hopi mesas, and the Rio Grande and Chama valleys in the Santa Fe area.

Oblique Views is a multi-phase project that includes the digital scanning of the 1929 Lindbergh negatives (completed in May 2007), which are curated at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the rephotography of a selection of these images; and the development of museum exhibits, a book, DVD, website, and other public programming, all based upon the rephotographic “then-and-now” pairings. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is our lead partner in the creation of the exhibit, and the Museum of New Mexico Press has agreed to publish the book and DVD. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture exhibit is scheduled to open in early 2012. The project will include the perspectives of a variety of people representing different cultures regarding the changes and stories that may be seen in the then-and-now pairs. Perspectives will include those of archaeologists, Native Americans, historians, land owners and caretakers, and modern-day residents, as well as the photographer himself.

Change is relative. The way change is measured differs depending upon who is doing the measuring. The perspectives of various project participants will allow us to address the multi-vocal and multi-cultural nature of landscapes in the Southwest. We are intrigued by questions such as:

• What aspects of change do different viewers perceive?
• How variable is their perception of the scale of change?
• What information or cultural background affects these perceptions?
• What insights can answers to these types of questions give us regarding people’s world views and how history and memory are captured or created in the landscape?

Through the Oblique Views project, we hope that:

• People have a better understanding of how landscapes are cultural, and how landscapes shape and are shaped by specific human experiences.
• People see the places captured in the rephotographs, and the broader landscape of the Southwest, as valuable because the places contribute to the Southwest’s over-arching unique culture. They are not abandoned, worthless places.
• People have a better understanding of how human decisions and behaviors have effects on the landscapes they live in.