Mingo Boys with Water Snake on the Eno River

Artist Jeff Whetstone American, born 1968

Date2004

MediumGelatin-silver print

Dimensionspaper: 28 × 35 in. (71.1 × 88.9 cm)
frame: 28 3/4 × 35 5/8 × 2 in. (73 × 90.5 × 5.1 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the William R. Roberson Jr. and Frances M. Roberson Endowed Fund for North Carolina Art

Object number2007.5.2

On View

Not on view

Label TextAfter graduating from Princeton with a degree in zoology, Whetstone understands the animals he captures through an artist and biologist lens. Through photography he reveals the dynamic space between us and today’s wilderness. As a “biologist at heart,” he perceives landscapes as ecological systems and humans as animals.

Beneath humans’ modern exterior, primal instincts like survival and dominance persist. Whetstone aims to reveal these instincts that guide our everyday interactions with the land, not as products of technology but as something natural and wild. These images depict nature and humanity as inseparable forces.
[L. Dougherty, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2024]ProvenanceCreated North Carolina, 2004; collection of the artist; [Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles]; sold to NCMA, 2007.
Published ReferencesCrosscurrents (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art and the Mint Museums, 2005) illus. (b-w) 95 (another print).
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Art, Craft, and Design in North Carolina," September 5, 2005-January 8, 2006; Charlotte, NC, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, January 28-August 6, 2006, illus. (b-w) 95 (another print).

Los Angeles, CA, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, "Jeff Whetstone," March 18-April 15, 2006 (another print).

Charlottesville, VA, Off Grounds Gallery, University of Virginia, "Jeff Whetstone: New Wilderness," November 3-25, 2006 (another print).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Close to Home,” August 18, 2013–February 9, 2014.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Panorama: North Carolina,” October 8, 2016–February 12, 2017.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection Reimagined," June 5, 2024-November 18, 2024. Object Rights Statement

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