“Longtime Oregon photographer Drex Brooks captured intimate moments of people, rural life, and the arid landscape of Eastern Oregon where he lived. In this photograph, a young girl sits in a pond, listening to water as its gentle undulations radiate outward from where she sits. As the recent pandemic has turned down the volume of our world with widespread shelter-in-place, it seems our awareness of the natural world has also become less muted, if not heightened, like for this young person in the photograph. I am reminded of a recent article in @theatlantic of the ways in which our earth has been responding to our slowing down, including our city soundscapes. The article quotes NPR correspondent, Sylvia Poggioli, in Rome, Italy of her observation of the city, ‘… you can actually hear the squeak of rusty door hinges,’ and ‘… the chirping of birds, an early sign of spring, is almost too loud.’ Staff writer Marina Koren notes this ‘bittersweet twist’ as our slowing down creates some notable well-being for our natural world.”
—Grace Kook-Anderson, The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art
Drex Brooks (American, born 1952). Michelle, Listening to Water—Juntura, Oregon, 1982. Inkjet print. Gift of the artist, 2014.94.2 © unknown, research required
