Dorothy Kerper Monnelly, the grande dame of American landscape photography, has recorded the patterns found in lava fields in Hawaii or in the Californian desert in large silver gelatin prints. Yet she cares deepest about the nature surrounding her home, her spiritual refuge, from where she draws inspiration for her art. She has spent decades exploring the wildlife and fauna in Acadia National Park in Maine or on the coast of Massachusetts with her camera, capturing the changing seasons and the swamps and marshes of her native countryside.

 “Waterforms” is dedicated to the infinite variety of shapes and designs created by the force and constant flow of water: the sleek surface of massive rocks, pebbles polished smooth and round, soggy seaweed on the beach, the traces left by the ocean in the sand as the high tide recedes, as well as the delicate ice structures on frozen water in winter.

These images go well beyond the mere documentation of nature. Dorothy Kerper Monnelly’s work not only presents scenic beauties but aims to raise public awareness for the preservation of endangered environments. In the US, the artist has long been renowned for her visionary struggle to protect a highly sensitive ecosystem.