POWER

For the last ten years, David Emitt Adams has been documenting the contemporary American landscape using the wet plate collodion process. By applying this early 19th century process onto discarded steel ephemera such as cans and scrap metals, Adams’ photographs are inherently transformed into one of a kind, three dimensional objects with a new gravitas and actualized tension between time and place. 

 In POWER, practicably realized on large scale 55-gallon steel drum lids, Adams’ conceptually orbits the moorings of the petroleum industry in the American Southwest. Fascinated by the multifaceted weight of power, Adams has spent the last three years traveling cross country, photographing oil refineries and the industrial landscape. The resulting images portray the various sub-regional interdependencies with industry, in their similarities and distinctions, while presenting as almost wistful landscapes. All photographs are direct positive, and made on location using Adams’ custom-built camera system. By pushing process and form, Adams merges the past and present, photography and sculpture, asking us to consider the history of energy as well as our place within it.