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Brad Temkin: Human Interventions in Landscape

CAE2212

Summary Note

Photographer Brad Tempkin is broadly concerned with how contemporary landscapes have been altered by human activity. This archive contains photographic prints from two book projects: The State of Water and Rooftop.

Biographical Note

Brad Temkin (Chicago, 1956) is an American photographer known for documenting the human impact on the landscape. He received a BFA in 1979 from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago. His works are included in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Photography. His images have appeared in such publications as Aperture, Black & White Magazine, Time magazine, and European Photography. His first book, Private Places: Photographs of Chicago Gardens, was published in 2005. His other books are Rooftop (2015) and The State of Water (2019), both from Radius Books. He has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships including an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in 2007 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017. He teaches photography at Columbia College Chicago.

Scope and Content

Photographer Brad Temkin is broadly concerned with how contemporary landscapes have been altered by human activity. His series The State of Water covers how water governs human alterations to both natural and built environments in response to cultural needs. The Rooftop series was created to address what contemporary urban pioneers are doing to mitigate the consequences of non-renewable energy consumption and drawing attention to “living architecture.” The Water, Power, and the Land Between series reveals the beauty of all states of water from sludge to pure, advocating for the need to conserve and reclaim our most valuable resource. His eye is informed by his years as a commercial photographer, and he is accustomed to seeking out unique vantage points that tend to produce iconic images.

Materials include project statements and photographic prints.

Arrangement

The folders in this archive are organized chronologically by project.

Inclusive Dates

2009-2026

Bulk Dates

2011-2026

Quantity / Extent

1.25 cubic feet

Language

English

Related Archive Collections

  • CAE1502: Jamey Stillings: Infrastructure and Landscape
  • CAE2004: Lee Saloutos: Nevada Mines

Related Publications

Temkin, Brad, Steven W. Peck, Roger Schickedantz, and John Rohrbach. Rooftop. Santa Fe, NM: Radius Books, 2015.

Temkin, Brad. The State of Water. Santa Fe, NM: Radius Books, 2019.

Container Listing:

  • ARCH-FILE 105-1

    • Folder 1 Rooftop, 2009 – 2015
    • Folder 2 The State of Water, 2016 – 2018

Additional Materials

    Archive Flat File F31 Oversized Items

    • 5#3 Covered Concentration Tank – Chicago, IL 2016, Archive Print, 2016
    • 5#4b Deep Tunnel – Chicago, IL 2016, Archive Print, 2016
    • 5#5b Swirls – Chicago, IL 2016, Archive Print, 2016
    • 5#6b West Bull Nose – Chicago, IL 2016, Archive Print, 2016
    • 5#7b Baffle Block – Chicago, IL, 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#9b Dis-Infection – Chicago, IL 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#10 Floating Spider – Seattle, WA 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#11 Flocculators – Chicago, IL 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#12 Pipe and Shadow – Philadelphia, PA 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#13b Screen – Chicago, IL 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#15b Slow Sand Filters – Philadelphia, PA 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#17 Treated Water – Philadelphia, PA 2017, Archive Print, 2017
    • 5#18b Diffusers – Los Angeles, CA 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#19 Encroachment – Phoenix, AZ 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#20 Firing A Hole – Phoenix, AZ 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#21b Floating Shade Balls – Los Angeles, CA 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#22b Inlet – Los Angeles, CA 2018, Archive Print, 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#23 Ripples (Inside Out) – Los Angeles, CA 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#24 Rothko Ruler – Los Angeles, CA 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 5#25b Sedentary Weirs – Atlanta, GA 2018, Archive Print, 2018
    • 6#2 Aqueduct, 1 and 2 at the Cascades – Sylmar, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#3 Basketball Court and Penstocks – Saugus, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#4 Dust Mitigation – Owens Lake, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#5 Habitat Island – Owens Lake, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#6 Montgomery Pass Mustangs – Mono Lake, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#7 Sea of Shadeballs – Los Angeles Reservoir – Sylmar, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#8 Walking the Aqueduct – Mojave, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#9 Winding Stream – Lone Pine, CA 2021, Archive Print, 2021
    • 6#10 Great Lake Spillway – Grant Lake, CA 2022, Archive Print, 2022
    • 6#11 Siphon – Jawbone Canyon, CA 2022, Archive Print, 2022
    • 6#12 Bird on a Wire (Cormorant) – Pleasant Valley Reservoir, CA 2023, Archive Print, 2023
    • 6#13 Eaton Diversion at Convict Creek – Long Valley, CA 2023, Archive Print, 2023
    • 6#14 Ghost Fence – Owens Lake, CA 2023, Archive Print, 2023
    • 6#15 Leaking Penstock – Upper Gorge Power Plant – North of Bishop, CA 2023, Archive Print, 2023
    • 6#16 Releasing Water from Tinemaha Reservoir – Big Pine, CA 2023, Archive Print, 2023
    • 6#17 Submerged Posts – Owens Lake, CA 2023, Archive Print, 2023
    • 6#18 Irrigation Whip Feed – Owens Lake, CA 2024, Archive Print, 2024
    • 6#19 Olancha Creek – Olancha, CA 2024, Archive Print, 2024
    • 6#20 Siphon and Fire Road – Little Jawbone, CA 2025, Archive Print, 2025
    • 6#21 Walker Dam and Canyon – Big Pine Canyon, CA 2025, Archive Print, 2025
    • 6#22 Gate – Fish Creek, CA 2026, Archive Print, 2026, Archive Print, 2026
    • 6#23 McGee Creek Diversion – Tom’s Place, CA 2026, Archive Print, 2026
    • 6#24 Sediments – Owens Lake, CA 2026, Archive Print, 2026
    • 6#25 Trona Mound – Owens Lake, CA 2026, Archive Print, 2026
    • 6#26 Two Stones – Owens Lake, CA 2026, Archive Print, 2026