Austin Cullen: dust watching
December 7th to January 7th, 2023
© Austin Cullendust watching catalogs the various ways the natural world is presented and reconstructed within western museums. Documenting the life cycle of museum exhibitions from inception to storage depicts how institutions shape nature–both literally and metaphorically.
Dramatic dioramas, interactive virtual experiences, and miniaturized landscapes all act as windows into the natural world. While this framing acts as a guide for reading and understanding nature, the same frame can be analyzed to understand the complex and ever-changing relationship between people and land. Before, natural history museums were one of the only ways to describe unknown landscapes. Now, it takes seconds to visit these spaces digitally. How does this access affect how we see nature, and what role does the digital medium play in informing it? In dust watching, the new digital landscape and museum nature's relationship are contrasted and connected.
Museums teach us about our environment, but often separate us from it. In an age of global climate crisis, it’s imperative to re-evaluate our understanding of and relationship with nature. By creating images that subvert the viewer's ideas of what is natural or not, I’m asking the viewer to recognize how strongly institutions influence their understanding of the larger natural world.
– Austin Cullen
Opening Reception:
Thursday, December 7th, 6pm – 8pm
About the Artist, Austin Cullen
Austin Cullen is a Houston based photographic artist and educator. He received his BFA from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2019, and his MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2022. He currently works as the Head of Digital Media at Cypress Falls High School, and as an educator at the Houston Center for Photography. His current project explores how museum displays and the natural world influence and affect one another. This project stems from his long-standing interest in natural history museums and the history of display. He has always been fascinated by the extravagant ways museums frame the American landscape.
In his practice, Austin welcomes and encourages collaborative making and discussion. In the project, A Natural History (Built to be Seen) and dust watching, he has worked closely with several significant natural history museums, researchers, and exhibit fabrication companies such as the Field Museum, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Morril Hall: University of Nebraska State Museum, PBE Design Group, Kansas University Natural History Museum, and the Hastings Museum.
Austin's work has been included in numerous venues including Lawndale Art Center, Filter Photo Gallery, Candela Books + Gallery, and the Midwest Center for Photography. His work has been featured in Fraction Magazine, F-Stop Magazine, Urbanautica, Yogurt Magazine, and Sola Journal among other printed and online publications.
Questions?
For questions about this exhibition, please contact André Ramos-Woodard,
Exhibitions and Programs Coordinator, at andre@hcponline.org or 713-529-4755, ext 16.