Shifting Shorelines

Shifting Shorelines, published in conjunction with an eponymous exhibition, brings together historical and contemporary art, material culture, and environmental science to engage in an interdisciplinary critical dialogue. Through visual, ecological, and material evidence the authors demonstrate the various cycles of exploitation, damage, and reclamation. In so doing, the publication offers a counter reading of the received art historical narratives about the "scenic Hudson" - narratives overwhelmingly grounded on the work of white male artists - and aims for a rich and complex understanding of the legacy, lives, and livelihoods along the river informed by the voices and experiences of a broad range of creators. By focusing deeply on a specific place, this richly illustrated collection of essays offers a story of human and more-than-human history that reverberated across the country on other industrialized rivers such as the Mississippi, Ohio, and Columbia.