Latest news with #Sightlines'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Sightlines' art exhibit highlights Asian-American influence in the DC experience
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — An exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum gives a new perspective on the rich history and influence of Asian-Americans in the District and beyond. Prominent pastor notified books loaned to African American museum may be returned amid review Moving through time, space and place, the 'Sightlines' exhibit sits just steps away from the iconic Friendship Archway in Chinatown, it's a reminder that Asian-American history in the DMV goes far beyond what can be seen from the street. 'It just seemed so perfect to mount an exhibition talking not just about Chinatown, but just the ways that Asian Americans have contributed to the built and cultural environment of our nation's capital,' said Yao-Fen You, the acting director of the Asian Pacific American Center. She helped bring the exhibit to life before its opening last fall. 'For us it's about unearthing those facts that, really, people haven't known about. I just like to think of it as telling a more fuller history,' said You. Sightlines is designed to give a different perspective and something new to look at from every angle, highlighting the intersectionality of the city experience and the impact of Asian-American culture in the District. The exhibit is home to three main stories: Making Place, Transforming Tradition and Visualizing Identity. A lot of the highlighted history is very recent, with some pieces from the 21st century, and others back to the 1960s and 1970s. 'I think what's great is that we had people come in and they're so excited, not only to see themselves, but to see their friends,' said You of some of the photographs included in the exhibit. It also celebrates artists like Alfred H. Liu, who designed the iconic Friendship Arch, and takes a closer look at what could have been. A sketch shows a design for an unrealized project called the Far East Trade Center. 'This is something that was never built,' said You, walking through the exhibit. 'He wanted it to be built on top of the Chinatown Metro station.' The drawings, sculptures and artwork highlighted in Sightlines go far beyond what's on display within the exhibit's walls. It includes a map of street art and murals by Javanese-American artist MISS CHELOVE, Cita Sadeli, and how to find them across the District. 'I think with each exhibition, you can never explore something to the depth that a curator ever wants to,' said You. 'There's only so much visitors can handle. The idea is that you are invited to explore more to whet your appetite. Right. We're just so excited that we have had this opportunity to introduce, not only the DMV audience, but also tourists coming from all over America to sort of just looking at DC in a very different way.' She and her team are also looking forward to another exhibit opening up at the American History Museum this fall, specifically highlighting the Filipino-American experience. 'Sightlines' is expected to stay on display through Nov. 30, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
07-03-2025
- CNN
This photographer spent 8 months driving across Australia to capture its jaw-dropping landscapes
When Lisa Michele Burns set out to photograph Australia in 2022, she didn't quite realize how enormous it was. She recalled a growing sense of panic on the second of her two four-month road trips as she drove down the never-ending highway to the outback, surrounded by nothing but rust-orange dirt, spiky spinifex grass, and the occasional gray-green mulga tree. 'That road, it's just — it's so straight,' said Burns. 'There was a point where I had to pull over and go, 'What are we doing? This place is so big.'' Despite growing up in Australia — moving from its southern coastline, where bushland rolls into the sea, up to the Whitsunday Islands in central Queensland — Burns, 40, has spent most of her career abroad, capturing images of Alpine peaks, serene bamboo forests and Mediterranean coastlines. 'I probably knew more about Greenland than I did the center of Australia,' she said. But during the coronavirus pandemic, she found herself at home, unable to travel abroad. 'It became an opportunity for me to see Australia.' Focusing on the 'vibrant color palette' of Australia's landscapes, Burns traversed the country, accompanied by her partner, to capture its diversity, from ocean blues to white sand beaches, dense green forests to rich red desert plains. Exploring places she'd never visited, Burns found a new appreciation for her birthplace — and hopes that the images, compiled in her photobook, 'Sightlines,' published last December by Images Publishing Group, can preserve the 'indescribable magic' of Australia's landscapes while sparking conversations about how to protect much-beloved natural wonders. 'I think it's important to appreciate the variety of landscapes across Australia, but to also document them as they are today, because they are changing,' said Burns. Due to pandemic restrictions and seasonal weather, Burns planned the trip in two halves — the first around the East coast, covering Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and the second half across South and Western Australia, and the Northern Territory — spending around eight months of 2022 on the road. While Burns plotted the route on Google Maps and researched locations ahead of the trip, she found that on the road, often different 'palettes and patterns' grabbed her attention. 'A lot of the places that became my favorite spots weren't actually ones that I'd researched,' she said. After finishing up early at a location in Southern Australia, Burns turned down a small road that led to Sheringa Beach, a location that became a highlight of her trip. 'There was nobody else there, just us and these dunes that just roll into the turquoise sea,' she recalled. In Western Australia, Burns visited Gantheaume Point, a 'touristy spot' famous for its fossilized dinosaur footprints that surprised her with unusual patterns and vibrant colors formed in the sandstone over millennia. 'I was mesmerized for days,' she said. The photos in 'Sightlines' focus more on the 'smaller details within a landscape,' said Burns, providing a deeper understanding and connection with the environment. For example, the desert often appears barren and inhospitable, a huge stretch of empty sand and sky with 'nothing really surviving,' said Burns: 'But once you take a closer look, there are so many beautiful flora and fauna that exist in these extreme conditions.' While Burns describes herself as an optimist and focused on the beauty of the country's landscapes, she could see the impacts of climate change. In the past decade, Australia has seen increasingly extreme weather events as a result of environmental damage, including intense droughts and storms, bushfires and rising sea levels. For Burns, this was most visible around the reefs and coastlines, where rising temperatures cause coral bleaching, which reached 'catastrophic levels' in the Great Barrier Reef in 2024. Last year was the hottest year on record globally, and Australia's average temperature has increased by 1.51 Celsius since 1910, when records began. And while driving through Southern Australia, Burns saw the aftermath of the 2019-2020 bushfires, during which more than 10 million hectares of land burned and over a billion animals are estimated to have died. 'That was incredible to see. That's where my family's from, and I knew how huge the fires were and the impact that they had,' she said. But across the scarred landscape, Burns could 'see the forest regenerating.' 'I think it is important to form a collective visual of what these landscapes look like today,' she said, adding: 'Photography can raise awareness about climate change, even if it's through beautiful imagery rather than hardcore documentary imagery. A good balance of the two across media is really important.' Even for a landscape photographer, though, some scenes cannot be captured. When Burns finally reached the Red Center, a landscape she'd heard so much about but never seen for herself, she felt the indescribable awe of Uluṟu — one of the world's largest sandstone monoliths and one of Australia's most iconic landmarks — and its red hue against the blue sky: 'I didn't realize how significant that would feel.' Nearby, in the Valley of the Winds, no photos are allowed because it is sacred to the Aṉangu people: but for Burns, it was 'one of the highlights of the entire trip,' giving her a new level of connection with the landscape. 'We lay on a platform and listened to the wind funneling down between the domes, and the birdsong,' she said. 'That was really magic, because you do need to look around and observe to get those creative ideas. You just need to put the camera down, sometimes.'
