Matthew Marks Gallery

Two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark reported finding in the American Northwest a vast forest of ancient evergreens. Turning Back looks again at the region’s trees, discovering evidence both of America’s failure and a continuing promise. “Going east,” Adams suggests, “was more difficult than going west.” Turning Back documents two kinds of predictive evidence. On the one hand Adams observes the results of greed so unrestrained that they are indistinguishable from those of nihilism. On the other we see what still lives, whether by our design, our neglect, or Providence. From coastal landscapes populated with tourists to timber clear-cutting and small family farms in eastern Oregon, Turning Back reflects on what was lost, what is retained, and what we value as a people with a common history.