Works by three iconic photographers and committed environmentalists will be shown at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art in Friday Harbor, Washington, later this year. The traveling exhibition, Fragile Waters, brings together photographs by Ansel Adams, Ernest H. Brooks II and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly. It opens on Earth Day weekend (April 23) and runs through July 18.
Michael Adams, son of Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly will attend the opening to discuss the work and the conservation themes it explores. Fragile Waters centers on water as a vital, life-sustaining resource, portraying the beauty and vulnerability of oceans, rivers, lakes and wetlands.
The exhibition comprises 117 black-and-white photographs ranging from Ansel Adams’s celebrated landscape images to Ernest H. Brooks II’s pioneering underwater photography and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly’s contemplative studies of New England marshes. Together, these bodies of work emphasize both the aesthetic power of water and the urgent need to protect aquatic ecosystems.
Housed in the San Juan Islands, the museum sits within a region celebrated for dramatic coastal vistas, rugged mountains and abundant wildlife. Visitors to the islands can pair a museum visit with outdoor activities such as sailing, kayaking, hiking and whale watching, as well as a vibrant local dining scene.