Since its inception, photography has helped perpetuate myths about the American landscape that obscure more complex experiences. To get a sense of how these myths influence our relationship to land today, science writer William L. Fox traces connections between mythmaking and human cognition throughout history, while artists Sam Contis, Mark Armijo McKnight, and Raven Chacon discuss how their work counters and breaks these myths by reframing the protagonists and narratives we typically see enacted in the landscape.

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Image: Mark A. McKnight, The Grave of Love, 2021, © Mark Armijo McKnight, Courtesy of the artist and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery