As Glaciers Recede | Rhea Banker

Within the bedrock of this planet, there are untold stories of history, of continental journeys, of coasts that bear witness to it all. My work is about capturing these untold stories by focusing on the smallest details held within the Earth’s crust. I explore geological features, worn surfaces, and glacial intrusions that reflect this ongoing transformation.

Using macro-photography as the starting point for my prints, my goal, however, is not to document the physical, but to share my intuitive response to these ancient and on-going stories. I work to reveal details, evoke movement through patterns, and add layers to share a sense of place, of time, and of personal journey.

Rhea Banker is a photographer and award winning book designer. After living and working in New York City for 30 years, she now makes her base in Northwestern Massachusetts. Much of her work is based on journeys to far rocky edges of the world, including Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Greenland, and Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego. Her abstract studies of patterns within the Earth’s ancient surfaces have been exhibited in a variety of museums, galleries, and cultural centers, including locations in Copenhagen, Denmark; Edinburgh, Scotland; Scotland's Outer Hebrides; New York, New York, USA; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in a variety of museums in Greenland (see below).

Much of her work is based on ancient movements recorded within the Earth’s crust and maps of imagined lands. Her textural abstract images are her reflections of these movements, and reveal her own attempts at understanding and sharing stories held within the landscape..

Her most recent work is focused on explorations along Greenland's west coast over the last 5 years. These newest images are responses to the deep connections she experiences between stone, sea, and ice as we witness a new epoch in the life of our fragile planet.

She has also done site-specific work and has permanent installations for the Stornoway Airport, Isle of Lewis; Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, Scotland; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, New York; and the University of Pennsylvania Berks Campus, Pennsylvania.

In addition to Rhea’s photographic work, she is a professional book designer. Her designs have won multiple awards, and have been repeatedly exhibited at the New York Bookbinder’s Exhibitions in New York City.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, Rhea received her BFA in Design and a BA in Art History. While there, she was the winner of the Evelyn Rumsey Lord Travel Fellowship. She has lectured undergraduates in Medieval Art History as well as in the History of Photography. She is currently based in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.