Robert Adams - Tenancy

A major new work, Tenancy is comprised of 42 photographs by Robert Adams (born 1937) made in Nehalem Bay State Park, Oregon, between 2013 and 2015, with short texts by the artist. The book’s theme of tenancy expresses the idea of “temporary possession of what belongs to another”—specifically, the natural environment. Adams’ recent photographs of the landscape reference the current and imminent threats of clearcutting, environmental degradation and natural disasters along the Northwestern coast of the US. The black-and-white photographs include poignant images of massive tree stumps on the beach—a product of the cutting of first and early second growth—as well as shimmering stretches of coastline protected for endangered birds previously thought to have abandoned northern Oregon.