Zoe Leonard — Excerpts from ‘Al río / To The River’

Over the past three decades, Zoe Leonard has probed the conditions of image-making and the politics of display, merging photography, sculpture, and installation in her acclaimed conceptual practice. This fall, Hauser & Wirth will present a selection from her expansive photographic project ‘Al río / To the River’ (2016–2022) on the second floor of the gallery’s 22nd Street location. Since 2016, Leonard has been photographing the 1,200-mile stretch of the Rio Grande, as it’s called in the US, or the Río Bravo, as it’s known in Mexico, that is used to demarcate the border between the two countries. Following the river’s course, Leonard explores the conflation of, and boundaries between, nature and politics as they manifest in the landscape of the US / Mexico border. ‘Al río / To the River’ debuted at Mudam, Luxembourg in February, and will travel to the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris this fall. Hauser & Wirth’s exhibition will highlight excerpts from this epic body of work.