Where Land and Water Meet: The Chesapeake Bay Photography of David W. Harp

Forty years of images by documentary photographer David W. Harp will be on display August 5 to September 25 at the Dorchester Center for the Arts in Cambridge MD. Where Land and Water Meet: The Chesapeake Bay Photography of David W. Harp, is on loan from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum where the exhibition premiered in 2020, in CBMM’s Steamboat Building gallery, as well as in a virtual format. The virtual format can be accessed at https://wherelandandwatermeet.org/home. Harp’s inspiration comes from exploring literal and figurative edges: shorelines, communities, habitats, and traditional worklife where culture and nature connect, creating the essence of what defines the Chesapeake. From dozens of black and white Tri-X film shots of legendary skipjacks including Rebecca T. Ruark and intimate portraits of captains and crew, to Kodachrome and Fujichrome images capturing marsh guts, waterfowl, and watermen at work, to more contemporary digital images documenting changing landscapes and lifestyles, Harp’s body of work represents a career spent immersed in the natural world, perfecting the art of
observation.

“Dave Harp has a long and varied career, and his naturalist’s eye provides an unparalleled perspective on the interdependence of communities, land and water along the Chesapeake,” said Jenifer Dolde, Associate Curator of Collections at CBMM. “His passion for the environment continually draws him to explore the Bay’s rivers, marshes and guts by kayak, on foot and by air, always revealing them in new ways.”

Where Land and Water Meet was originally presented thanks to the generous contributions of Diamond Sponsor Caroline Gabel; Platinum Sponsors Sandy and Omer Brown and H. Turney McKnight; Gold Sponsors Emma and Cullen Bailine and Finn and Jackson Falk, Meta and Billy Boyd, David M. Brown, Dorie and Jeff McGuiness, and The Bay Journal; and Silver
Sponsors Posey and Bill Boicourt.

Where Land and Water Meet will run August 5-September 25. Gallery hours are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Thursday noon-8:00 p.m. The Second Saturday Artist Reception will be held at DCA on August 13, 5:00-7:00 p.m., and will include a talk with Dave Harp and CBMM curatorial staff, plus live music, and light refreshments. Admission is free and all are welcome.