Images of the Amazon

A photography exhibition by Colleen Casey

Over the course of three expeditions along the Amazon River between 2017 and 2019, Colleen Casey witnessed the dramatic fluctuation of the waters, which can rise and fall up to 12 meters across different seasons. In a landscape devoid of terrestrial roads, navigating its waterways becomes the sole means of journeying deep into the territory.

Serving as a visual testament to her travels through the Brazilian Amazon, this exhibition brings together 15 photographs that capture the untouched beauty and serene immensity of the rainforest. Through her lens, the artist shares a perspective of profound tranquility. Reflecting on her experience, she notes: “The Amazon is a region teeming with life, providing pure oxygen and an exquisite natural world filled with birds, animals, fish, plants, flowers, reptiles, insects, trees, and people. We cannot afford to lose this paradise. The forests remain under threat. The lungs of the world are fragile.”

The spatial arrangement of the landscapes invites viewers on a visual journey evoking the cycle from dawn to dusk, capturing how the sun’s rays intensify the warm, earthy tones. This natural progression pauses at the central niches to make way for three intimate portraits: Pure, Amazonas, and A boy and his bird. Through the subtle smile of a girl with a painted face, the upward gaze of a mother on her small boat, and the thoughtful eyes of a boy balancing a bird in motion, we are offered a glimpse into everyday life. Through these gentle and serene faces, the artist portrays humanity’s profound and harmonious coexistence within a natural world of colossal scale.

To document the sensory richness and insights gained during her travels, the artist translates her background in language arts and narrative into the photographic medium, materializing this vision through archival-quality prints.

Colleen Casey studied Communications at Temple University and the University of South Florida. Her formal education is complemented by studies in speech, rhetoric, performing arts, theater, video production, painting, and sculpture. Additionally, she studied marine sciences and scuba diving in the Bahamas, and graduated from a three-year sculpture program at the Gruber-Jez Foundation in Cholul, Yucatán, Mexico, in 2004. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Mérida, as well as two solo shows: one focusing on photography (1998) and the other on sculpture (2009).