Joel Sternfeld is best known for his large-format color photographs of American life, but nearly 20 years ago he made a series of images at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Government ministers, scientists, leaders of nongovernmental organizations and journalists gathered in Montreal in 2005 for this annual meeting of countries participating in the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Although he wasn’t a journalist, Sternfeld gained access to the conference using newspaper credentials because, he said, “I wanted to know if climate change was real.” What he found was worse than what he expected. He said, “In the opinion of nearly all the participants, not only was climate change occurring; but it was also about to reach a tipping point and become irreversible.”
Using a telephoto lens to take close-ups, Sternfeld trained his camera on a range of participants to create an “archive of humanity” amid what was then a largely invisible ecological crisis.
“I tried to take photographs of delegates at the moment when the horror of what they were hearing was visible on their faces,” he said.
Sternfeld titled the resulting series “When It Changed,” and guests can see a selection of its images at the Georgia Museum of Art in the exhibition “Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed” through Dec. 1.
In an adjoining gallery, the companion exhibition “The Artist as Witness” serves as a visual response. Organized by Kathryn Hill, the museum’s associate curator of modern contemporary art, with assistance from intern Mary Alice Smith (UGA ’24), it pulls photographs from the museum’s permanent collection that examine humanity’s impact on the natural landscape. Artists include Robert von Sternberg, Arthur Tress, Arturo Soto, David Sherry, Matthew Brandt, Rosie Brock and Athens’ own Jason Thrasher.
Where Sternfeld’s photographs focus on the people and diplomatic powers that have shaped global response to climate change, the artists and works in “The Artist as Witness” recenter impacted landscapes and surreal scenes of changing environments. Together, the exhibitions present an opportunity to reflect on how the planet has changed over the last 20-plus years.
A conversation between photographers Jason Thrasher and Caitlin Peterson, both of whom have work in “The Artist as Witness,” will take place on Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
