Description

Book Synopsis

For the Erie Canal's 200th anniversary, López-Jensen's series centers the unseen labor that keeps the waterway operational

The debut photobook The Work and the Water: Labor and Landscapes along the Erie Canal by Matthew López-Jensen (born 1980) is a work of environmental social practice centering the unseen labor required to keep the Erie Canal, a 524-mile inland waterway in upstate New York, operational. Over 40 photographs are accompanied by commentary from the more than 400 employees who work on the canal year-round, often out of view and in hazardous conditions. As the first artist-in-residence with the canal in its 200-year history, López-Jensen visited every lock in the system from Buffalo to Albany, from Whitehall to Seneca Falls. The archive of images he created helps communicate the potentials of the canal as a site for environmental restoration while also conveying the scale of this colossal piece of infrastructure that transformed the region in ways that are still felt today.

Matthew LópezJensen The Work and the Water

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      Publisher: Distributed Art Pub
      Publication Date: 9/25/2025
      ISBN13: 9781941753774, 978-1941753774
      ISBN10: 1941753779

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      For the Erie Canal's 200th anniversary, López-Jensen's series centers the unseen labor that keeps the waterway operational

      The debut photobook The Work and the Water: Labor and Landscapes along the Erie Canal by Matthew López-Jensen (born 1980) is a work of environmental social practice centering the unseen labor required to keep the Erie Canal, a 524-mile inland waterway in upstate New York, operational. Over 40 photographs are accompanied by commentary from the more than 400 employees who work on the canal year-round, often out of view and in hazardous conditions. As the first artist-in-residence with the canal in its 200-year history, López-Jensen visited every lock in the system from Buffalo to Albany, from Whitehall to Seneca Falls. The archive of images he created helps communicate the potentials of the canal as a site for environmental restoration while also conveying the scale of this colossal piece of infrastructure that transformed the region in ways that are still felt today.

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