Bastienne Schmidt: Topography of Quiet

In Topography of Quiet, the internationally acclaimed German-born, New York–based photographer Bastienne Schmidt (born 1961) uses painting, drawing and photography to explore the patterns and typologies of nature. Her color and black-and-white photographs of ocean tides and patterns in sand and water are juxtaposed with other landscape scenes in which some small gesture of human activity or intervention is apparent—a hose floating on water, a pyramid in silhouette, tire marks, agricultural demarcations, white lines on a soccer field. These photographs, taken in locations around the world, are further augmented with delicate, complex paintings and drawings that underscore the subtlety of Schmidt’s eye. As the book’s title indicates, an expansive serenity permeates these works, which gently pursue and embrace the co-existence of the natural and the man-made.