Joel Sternfeld: Walking the High Line

Since March 2000, photographer Joel Sternfeld has been documenting the abandoned elevated railway, the High Line, which runs down the West Side of Manhattan. Sometimes a river of grass, sometimes more like wheat fields of Canada, this unique ruin permits contemplation of nature, and of cityscape. Walking the path of this true time landscape, experiencing the seasons as they unfold in a ribbon within the vertical architectural landscape of New York City, Sternfeld has created a suite of images marked by quiet grace and formal rigor. In Walking the High Line, as in all of his work, landscape is read as a social and cultural indicator. A major exponent of color photography in America, Joel Sternfeld was born in New York City in 1944. He has received numerous awards including two Guggenheim fellowships, a Prix de Rome and the Citibank Photography Award. Sternfeld's books include On This Site (1997), Hart Island (1998), Stranger Passing (2001), Sweet Earth (2006), When It Changed(2007), Oxbow Archive (2008) and First Pictures (2011).