Marilyn Bridges | American, 1948 -
Marilyn Bridges is renowned for her black-and-white aerial photographs that document historical sights: from ancient ruins, to rural America. She is the first artist to have made such an expansive and elegant aerial study of civilization and landscapes across the world.
Bridges has been doing her aerial photography for close to two decades. Shooting from a low altitude, small engine craft through an open door, she retains details while revealing a different perspective; the larger complexity of the landscape. Much of her work can be seen as a record of human history through the ways man has marked the earth. She prefers to photograph very early or late in the day when the sun creates a relief of long and distinctive shadows, making the landscapes look more sculptural.
Author of many books and a licensed pilot, her work has been exhibited widely and is in the permanent collections of museums including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Bridges is the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Marilyn Bridges is renowned for her black-and-white aerial photographs that document historical sights: from ancient ruins, to rural America. She is the first artist to have made such an expansive and elegant aerial study of civilization and landscapes across the world.
Bridges has been doing her aerial photography for close to two decades. Shooting from a low altitude, small engine craft through an open door, she retains details while revealing a different perspective; the larger complexity of the landscape. Much of her work can be seen as a record of human history through the ways man has marked the earth. She prefers to photograph very early or late in the day when the sun creates a relief of long and distinctive shadows, making the landscapes look more sculptural.
Author of many books and a licensed pilot, her work has been exhibited widely and is in the permanent collections of museums including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Bridges is the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.