Photographer Luke Erickson will discuss his exhibit CONFLUENCE: Geography, History, and Culture at the Intersection of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. The exhibit opened in the Marsden/Gustafson Gallery at IFP MN on June 30 and continues through September 2.

CONFLUENCE is a photographic essay that highlights the historical, economic, and social importance of the two rivers, the Mississippi and Minnesota, and serves as a call to observe, preserve, and protect our watersheds. These photographs are also, specifically, a polemic about the importance of landscape photography and a meditation on the mythology of the American West, the effects of suburban expansion, the American Dream, and the exploitation of natural resources.

Erickson has long focused on the state of the natural environment and how it has been impacted by the encroachment of “the man-made.” His influences include photographers Timothy O’Sullivan and Robert Adams, artists Thomas Cole and Ed Ruscha, and filmmakers John Ford and Jim Jarmusch. Erickson uses both digital and analogue cameras to produce highly personal black and white photographs that honor the documentary tradition. He is inspired to make this work because of a deeply held respect for history, an abiding interest in understanding how and why the appearance of the landscape has been transformed over time, and a desire to share his work with others.

Erickson’s photographs are found in many public, private, and corporate collections, including The Weisman Art Museum, Tweed Museum of Art, University of Southern California’s Fisher Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, The Autry Museum, University of Redlands’s Peppers Art Gallery, and the Carlson Companies.