What do you see when you are driving through the desert landscape along New Mexico's highways? If there are long stretches that seem uninhabited, isolated from or devoid of human presence, do you note that? Or, do you see the other presences: the coyotes, the hares, the chamisa, and the sage, to name a few? Do you see the history of the land or sense its enduring legacies? The question photographer Michael P. Berman has for us is, how do we see what's there? It is a question for which he has a very basic answer: in order to see what's there, you have to go and look.

As a photographer and as someone concerned about the ecological importance of grasslands, going out to look is what Berman does. His focus has been on the grasslands of the Chihuahuan desert. Although most of the desert is located in Mexico, a significant area stretches up into New Mexico as well as parts of Texas and Arizona. When Berman says "the element that ties the landscapes together is the grasslands," as he did in a recent interview with Pasatiempo, one senses a dual meaning in his words. On one hand, the grasslands of the Chihuahuan desert tie Mexico to the Southwestern United States, but on the other, they tie the forests, canyons, townships, and cityscapes together, too. "We live in it but we do not see it," said Berman. "It once was this incredible grassland. Most of it is disappearing. It is a metaphor for a larger landscape."

Berman spends considerable amounts of time exploring the Chihuahuan desert. When he goes out, it can be for anywhere from several weeks to several months. "I like going out to these places and being alone," the photographer said. "I like to look at things, and I am always thinking about how things go together. By going into the desert, many of the cultural distractions we are addicted to fall away; and you proceed through a kind of withdrawal; and how you see the world shifts."

An exhibition of Berman's photographs called Grasslands can be seen at 516 Arts in Albuquerque. The show runs concurrently with Separating Species, an exhibit that features the work of artists Krista Elrick, Dana Fritz, David Taylor, and Jo Whaley. Both exhibitions are curated by Mary Anne Redding, curator of photography at the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives. Both deal, to some extent, with the interactions of life in the volatile areas along the U.S./Mexico border, and they are part of the LAND/ART project coordinated by 516 Arts in collaboration with the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, the Contemporary Arts Society of New Mexico, The University of New Mexico Art Museum, and THE LAND/an art site. Redding moderates a panel discussion with Berman, Taylor, and artist Erika Blumenfeld at 516 Arts on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Among the photographs in Grasslands is one titled Yucca, Coyomito Sud, Chihuahua. What is remarkable about the image is how it naturally follows a long tradition in landscape painting of presenting a foreground, middle distance, and background. What do we see? The spiky plants that manage to survive in the harsh landscape occupy the foreground. They feel almost animal-like in their presence. The middle distance is dotted with scrub brush, and seemingly barren hills rise from the valleys beyond. Berman's stark black-and-white images capture the beauty of the landscape and a sense of its paradoxical fragility and ability to endure, but they do not necessarily reveal the landscape's secrets. The Southwest has a bloody history as a zone of contention between Native peoples and the Spanish, Americans, and Mexicans. It is within these grasslands that immigrants struggle to survive illegal border crossings, where a police state exists to stem the flow of immigration and where tenuous alliances likely develop between authorities and drug traffickers. One wonders what people involved in these activities make of someone like Berman, who might approach them, camera in hand, and state, "I'm just looking."

The photographs in Grasslands are also included in Charles Bowden's new book, Trinity, scheduled to be published by University of Texas Press on Oct. 15. The book is third in a trilogy that deals directly and unsparingly with the effect of various crises on this landscape, including the Mexican War and the nuclear arms race. The other two books are Inferno (2006), also a collaboration between Bowden and Berman, and Exodus/Éxodo (2008), which features text by Bowden and photos by Julián Cardona. The beauty of the land in Berman's photographs serves as a counterpoint to the violent culture of the humans that have occupied it.

Bowden and Berman participate in a conference on the grasslands, focusing on the Otero Mesa area of southern New Mexico, on Oct. 24 at Bosque School in Albuquerque. "There are folks advocating for grasslands," Berman said. "The Forest Guardians have a program for grasslands, and New Mexico Wilderness Alliance has led the charge to save Otero Mesa and designate it as wilderness. In the last 10 years grasslands have caught on, in part because they are seen as a significant ecosystem and in part because of the emergence of recognizing the importance of connectivity of ecological systems. We attend to things we value. It is really that simple."

Berman, who holds a degree in biology from Colorado College, can talk as eloquently on the topic of how limestone deposits contribute to speciation among grasses as he can about his personal experience with the land. He speaks of the landscape with reverence and respect, as someone who really does see what is there. "If I asked you to close your eyes and imagine a wilderness, the archetype would be an Ansel Adams photograph, or perhaps an Eliot Porter, if you think in color," he said. "These guys worked on creating this archetype. As we developed the aesthetic for the land in this century — as wild and beautiful ecosystems — it was for canyons, mountains, forests, and rivers. Grasslands were left out."

Central to this idea of selective representation is the notion of landscape as both a medium and a commodity. As we look at vast stretches of hills and valleys that bear no apparent sign of human life, we are confronted with the disheartening fact that, even if they are declared wilderness, they are all owned, all part of a larger nation. But the grasslands are heedless of political boundaries. They belong to Mexico and the U.S., to Chihuahua and to Texas. There is an opportunity to form new alliances between states and countries for their preservation.

details
Grasslands, photographs by Michael P. Berman
Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 (panel discussion at 2 p.m.); exhibit through Dec. 12
516 Arts, 516 Central Ave. S.W., Albuquerque, 505-242-1445
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Grasslands Conference with Berman and author Charles Bowden
11 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 24
Bosque School, 4000 Learning Road, Albuquerque, 505-898-6388
$15 registration (includes lunch); call 505-843-8696 or see nmwild.org