Large-format color photographs by two master photographers will act as touchstones for audiences to experience the complex mixture of ancient and modern realities of the Silk Roads, which linked the civilizations and cultures of China, Central Asia, West Asia, and Europe for much of pre-modern history as early as 100 BC. As a precursor to today’s global world and economy, the cultural and political significance of these ancient routes cannot be overstated. Lynn Gilbert’s serene, intimate images of people and domestic interiors are in striking contrast to Didier Vanderperre’s visually dynamic “street photography” of the bustling, sometimes volatile region of Xinjiang, a terminus of the Silk Road. Its borders on Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Tibet account for the region’s exceptional diversity, making it an important crossroads throughout history.
“Lynn Gilbert’s passion for Central Asia has resulted in a series of contemplative images of interiors and portraits of people engaged in their traditional way of life,” says Amy Winter, museum director and curator of this exhibition. “Unlike the voyeurism of tourist photography or the romanticism of travel photography, her thoughtful work offers us cultural anthropology as art.
