Frontcountry: Lucas Foglia, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

Running from March 28 – May 10 the exhibition, Frontcountry: Lucas Foglia will address the the wild and sparsely populated American West, with all its romantic and historical connotations. This is a landscape currently facing a massive social and economic upheaval as a new mining boom transforms the lives of those living there.

Between 2006 and 2013, photographer Lucas Foglia set out to travel through rural Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming to tell the stories of those caught up in this changing world and examine their relationship to the land.

In Nevada, rancher Randy Stowell told him: “This little town has nothing. It’s dying on the vine. But when the company opens a mine here, it’ll bring jobs and make everything bigger and better. There are people who want that boost to the community. I’m not one of them. The mine will ruin the mountain and you’ll never find land this beautiful anywhere else.”

Foglia, who grew up on a small farm in New York, and is now based in San Francisco, sees his work as continuing in the line of previous American social documentary photographers in its prolonged and measured examination of a theme. It is driven by a desire to tell stories, and while rooted in the spectacular landscape, never loses its focus on those who both live and make their living there. His work is also in the permanent collection of the V&A, London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

More information can be found here:
www.michaelhoppengallery.com
www.nazraeli.com

Credit:
1. George Chasing Wildfires, Eureka, Nevada 2012 © Lucas Foglia