A New Form of Beauty ─ Glen Canyon Beyond Climate Change

In Glen Canyon waters rose, inundating petroglyphs and creating Lake Powell. Now the Colorado River basin is experiencing the longest dry spell in modern history—one that shows alarming signs of becoming the new normal.
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In A New Form of Beauty photographer Peter Goin and writer Peter Friederici tackle science from the viewpoint of art, creating a lyrical exploration in words and photographs, setting Glen Canyon and Lake Powell as the quintessential example of the challenges of perceiving place in a new era of radical change. Through evocative photography and extensive reporting, the two document their visits to the canyon country over a span of many years. By motorboat and kayak, they have ventured into remote corners of the once-huge reservoir to pursue profound questions: What is this place? How do we see it? What will it become?
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Goin’s full-color photographs are organized in three galleries—Flora and Fauna, Artifacts, and Low Water—interspersed with three essays by Friederici, and an epilogue gallery on Fire. The book includes two foldout photographs, which allow readers to fully see Lake Powell at high water and low water points

Contemplating humanity’s role in the world it is creating, Goin and Friederici ask if the uncertainties inherent in Glen Canyon herald an unpredictable new future for every place. They challenge us to question how we look at the world, how we live in it, and what the future will be.

Peter Goin is the author or co-author of more than fifteen books of photography focusing on western American landscapes, including Time and Time Again: History, Rephotography, and Preservation in the Chaco World with Lucy Lippard. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and is Foundation Professor of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Peter Friederici is editor of What Has Passed and What Remains: Oral Histories of Northern Arizona’s Changing Landscapes and author of Nature’s Restoration: People and Places on the Front Lines of Conservation, among other books. He is an associate professor in the School of Communication at Northern Arizona University.