The Moss Arts Center’s newest exhibition, “Unbearable Beauty,” presents works of art that demonstrate the devastating ways human activity impacts the environment.
The exhibit is currently on view at the Moss Arts Center, located at 190 Alumni Mall in Blacksburg, from Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. through April 24. Masks are required and social distancing guidelines should be followed in all gallery spaces. The center’s exhibitions and all related events are always free and open to the public.
The exhibition includes photographic work by nationally and internationally recognized artists Edward Burtynsky, Chris Jordan and Daniel Beltrá; a film installation of one of the largest Arctic glacier calving incidents to date by James Balog; and Steven Norton’s soundscape of animals that are now extinct.
Curated by Margo Crutchfield, Moss Arts Center curator at large, the exhibition features extraordinary work from these artists:
Edward Burtynsky — Ruth C. Horton Gallery
An accomplished contemporary photographer, Edward Burtynsky is known for his images of industrial projects and their effects on the environment. His photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes include colossal mines, quarries, dams, factories and disposal facilities. Featured in this exhibition are examples of his photographs that focus on the extraction of metals from mining sites in Arizona, New Mexico and Ontario, Canada.
Chris Jordan — Ruth C. Horton Gallery
Chris Jordan is a photographic artist whose work in this exhibition explores mass consumption from a sociological and environmental perspective. In his photographs Jordan translates social and environmental statistics into visible terms, visiting landfills and recycling centers to photograph vast piles of discarded products such as: cell phones, chargers and circuit boards. Jordan’s works walk the line between abstraction and representation, examining the actions of humans and their impact on society and the environment.
Steve Norton — Sherwood Payne Quillen ’71 Reception Gallery
Steve Norton is a sound artist, musician and researcher who is currently focused on the gathering of field-recorded sound to use in electroacoustic compositions and improvisational performance. Presented in this exhibition is his four-channel sound installation, “Requiem” (2018), which was created with the recordings of 10 recently extinct bird species and two species of frogs. “Requiem” is a eulogy to these animals and a sobering reference to the global threats to wildlife and impending extinction of numerous species.
Daniel Beltrá — Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery
Daniel Beltrá’s work over the past two decades has taken him to all seven continents, photographing everything from oil spills, glacier melts and droughts to the effects of greenhouse gases. Up to four feet high by six feet wide, Beltrá’s panoramic aerial photographs capture the shocking scale of environmental degradation. Photographs in the exhibition depict the deforestation of the Amazon forest and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest marine oil spill in history.
James Balog — Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery
James Balog brings the enormity and significance of climate change and the world’s melting glaciers into visual focus in his acclaimed film “Chasing Ice” (2012). Presented in the exhibition is footage from the film portraying the historic breakup of the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland — a breathtaking calving event that lasted for 75 minutes — due to rising temperatures. This footage has gone on record as the largest glacier calving event ever captured on film and brings into focus the reality of climate change with an immediate and visceral impact.
“Towards a Better Future” — Frances T. Eck Exhibition Corridor
This related component of the exhibition, “Towards a Better Future,” highlights several initiatives currently underway at Virginia Tech to address some of the world’s most critical environmental challenges. On view through April 10, “Towards a Better Future” is curated and organized by Meggin Hicklin, Moss Arts Center exhibitions program manager, along with graduate assistants Anthony Pearson and Alexandra Palin.
