Shore thing: the unique landscape of Lake Erie – in pictures

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email

These beautiful black and white images of the shallowest Great Lake remind us of what we have done to the environment – and each other

Tue 16 May 2023 02.00 EDT

• Huntington Beach, Bay Village, 2014

  For over a decade, large-format photographer Lynn Whitney has captured Lake Erie’s imperilled Ohio shores. Her book Lake Erie is available through Kehrer Verlag. An exhibition, Ohio Boundary: Lake Erie, will be at Lakeside Chautauqua, Ohio, USA in May 2023. All photographs: Lynn Whitney Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Huron Boy, Huron, 2014

  The beautifully rendered images reveal a sense of diverse communities, changing landscapes and deep histories Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• By the Great Lake Erie, Magee Marsh Beach, 2019

  Lynn Whitney: ‘For hundreds of years, the western and southern boundary of Lake Erie has been densely populated, with human endeavours producing significant consequences. I found it an apt vessel from which to reflect on my family history and on systems – political, cultural, and environmental – that have contributed to Lake Erie’s ongoing vulnerability, particularly in the western basin’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Decoys, Oak Harbor, 2012

  The images represent an exploration of the 96-mile stretch of shoreline between Toledo and Cleveland known as Lake Erie’s western basin Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• House in Winter, Sandusky, 2014

  In the essay Undercurrents: Re-envisioning Lake Erie, curator Robin Reisenfeld writes: ‘Lynn Whitney’s photographic series Lake Erie unfolds experientially – giving pictorial expression to the human activity, systems and practices that have shaped the water’s existence and our relationship to it. With an unerring eye, Whitney captures Lake Erie and its shoreline’s stark and quiet beauty intertwined with the basin’s industrial, commercial and private development’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Formerly Dike 14, Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve, Cleveland, 2009

  Whitney: ‘This series began in 2009 with a commission from the George Gund Foundation, but then expanded far beyond the original project. With my 8x10 film camera, the Gund Commission made access possible to private estates and places people were not generally allowed to visit’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Two Birders, Magee Marsh, 2014

  Lynn Whitney: ‘Finding permissible access to engage with the life of the lake challenged my ingenuity. But thankfully people are still curious about traditional cameras and often kind enough to allow me to make my pictures in places both public and private’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Signal, Near Sandusky, 2014

  In the essay Lake Erie, a Vast and Fragile Resource, biologist George Bullerjahn writes: ‘The Great Lakes harbour one fifth of the surface fresh water on Earth. Lake Erie, the shallowest of the lakes, has the highest population in its basin and is under continuous assault by the forces of human activity, invasive species and climate change. The waters, seemingly endless, are an abundant, yet fragile resource. Fisheries, water quality and coastlines are now drastically different following the displacement of indigenous peoples by European settlers’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• On Her Shoulders, Huron, 2019

  Lynn Whitney: ‘When I moved to Northwest Ohio from New England as an adult in the 1980s, my vision of Lake Erie was complicated. I had family ties to it, and I knew it had ongoing environmental concerns. My mother had been raised near the Lake’s shores and she had experienced its enormity. I had grown up in Massachusetts with my mother’s stories animating a single old photograph in our house which formed a romantic image of the Lake for me’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• One Love, Edgewater Park, 2009

  Inspired by Frank Gohlke’s work on Lake Erie, Whitney’s distinct eye acts as a guide through this unique and imperilled landscape; her images ask what the chances are for our collective future and offer hope in the effort of noticing Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Lucky Stone (otolith), Magee Marsh Beach, 2014

  Whitney: ‘As I collected images and stories, the complex life of the lake began to express itself in metaphorical layers. A woman held an otolith in her palm for me; an offering, a lucky stone, a stigmata’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Turtle Eggs, Magee Marsh, 2014

  As a collection, these photographs and texts are reminders of the past we share; of what we have done and continue to do to the lake and to each other Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Stairs, Bratenhal Estate, 2009

  In the essay Witness, photographer Nicholas Nixon writes: ‘In Whitney’s work we see scenes of past elegance, present industrial use and small poignant events along the shoreline, a magic stage. Women in a car are as beautiful as a boy fishing, a large anonymous apartment building, turtle eggs in the grass, a statue of Neptune, the shining horizon. She looks kindly and with elegance, but without judgment, letting us see for ourselves the connection between people and events in the light on the edge of the second smallest and most shallow of the Great Lakes’ Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

• Photography

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJmiqa6vsMOeqqKfnmS0orjLnqmyZ2Jlf3R7zJqwaGlmZLmit8RmnKuhlWK0s7HArWSlmZuawG61zWanopukqr%2Bmvw%3D%3D