Misrach, Richard, 1949-

Richard Misrach (born 1949) is an American photographer. He has photographed the deserts of the American West, and pursued projects that document the changes in the natural environment that have been wrought by various man-made factors such as urban sprawl, tourism, industrialization, floods, fires, petrochemical manufacturing, and the testing of explosives and nuclear weapons by the military. Curator Anne Wilkes Tucker writes that Misrach's practice has been "driven [by] issues of aesthetics, politics, ecology, and sociology." In a 2011 interview, Misrach noted: "My career, in a way, has been about navigating these two extremes - the political and the aesthetic." Describing his philosophy, Tracey Taylor of The New York Times writes that "[Misrach's] images are for the historical record, not reportage." David Littlejohn of The Wall Street Journal called Misrach "the most interesting and original photographer of his generation." Littlejohn noted Misrach's work in a large scale, color format that defied the prior expectations of fine art photography.