The Denver Art Museum has opened a new photography exhibition titled *What We’ve Been Up to: Landscape*, featuring works by over a dozen artists including Meghann Riepenhoff, Masao Yamamoto, Linda Conner, Terri Weifenbach, Tanya Marcuse, Christina Fernandez, Patrick Nagatani, Zora J. Murff, Marion Post Wolcott, William Henry Jackson, Mary Peck, Abelardo Morell, Steve Fitch, John Ganis, Frank Gohlke, and Henry Wessel, Jr. The photographs are loosely grouped by theme—ranging from intimate nature studies and scenic beauty to technology’s imprint and difficult histories of slavery, Indigenous conflict, and natural disasters. A related lecture by Terri Weifenbach is scheduled for September 30, 2025.
The exhibition matters because it reframes landscape photography not merely as a record of place but as an autobiography of the people, societies, and forces that shape the North American continent. By juxtaposing celebratory views of America’s natural beauty with works that confront troubling historical conflicts and environmental change, the show underscores photography’s power to address both personal and collective memory. It also continues the Denver Art Museum’s commitment to showcasing contemporary photographic practice alongside historical works.