THE PINES

Photography by CHUCK HEMARD

On display MARCH 19 - APRIL 20, 2019

Reception and Lecture: THURSDAY, APRIL 4 AT 5PM

Images in the series The Pines explore remnants of old-growth longleaf pinelands across the southeast United States. Historically, this is one of America's most significant landscapes that, when maintained with frequent, non-fatal fire, is also an extraordinary bio diverse ecosystems rivaling that of the tropical rain forests.

“Prior to European settlement longleaf pine was the keystone species in a landscape mosaic that covered some 90 million acres of mostly coastal plain from Virginia to east Texas, and in the late 19th and early 20th century was all but wiped away by human action at an industrial scale. These photographs are more about a place than a tree. I am after a sense of the momentous and sacred, what I can experience in the present that gives a tiny glimpse of insight to both past and future.  I seek place where time is tangible and puts me in my place as a human in a much larger narrative.

We eventually became part of the earth’s narrative, and I get the feeling we used to more thoroughly understand our role by being better listeners and proceeding with humility, with less aggressive need for short term control, and I like to be reminded of this.”

- Chuck Hemard

Click the link below to listen to a podcast audio interview about this body

of work recorded at Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts.