The Photography of Renate Aller

January 25–April 25, 2016

An exhibition of Renate Aller's photography at Total Plaza in Houston, Texas.

The ocean and desert are seeming disparate pieces of our planet. One is wet and one is dry. We think of them as opposites. We consider them as very separate places. But when we find sea shells in the mountains, we begin to understand each carries the memory of the other. There exists a shared relationship, a shared memory which suggests the uniqueness we applaud, the separateness we acknowledge, is actually illusion. The ocean and the desert are one for they share the memory of the other.

This exhibition is a purposeful collection of photographs of the ocean taken on Long Island's southern shore and the desert taken at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico and the Great San Dunes National Park in Colorado. The images reflect the continual engagement of the same landscape and record observations which revere that which is observed. Alain de Botton has written, "Artists act as guides to a truer, more judicious, more intelligent understanding of the world." Renate Aller guides us to revere our planet and embrace an origin where all is interwoven and connected, and the space between memory and expectation is the most precious. It is now.

Curated by Sally Reynolds

In collaboration with the artist and in co-operation with Fotofest 2016 and Catherine Couturier Gallery

Photographs by Dawn Baxter