October 11, 2022
6:00 p.m. CST
Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
Sid Richardson Hall, 2300 Red River St., Austin, TX 78712
About the Program:
Please join the Briscoe Center for a special program to celebrate the recent acquisition of the Joan Myers Photographic Archive, as well as the publication of her most recent book, The Devil’s Highway.
Myers will discuss her 45-year career in documentary photography and the span of her work examining the relationships between people and the land. Her highly acclaimed photography has been the focus of three Smithsonian exhibitions, more than fifty solo and eighty group shows, and eleven books. Her work has global and environmental scope, with coverage of such locations as India, Antarctica (through a National Science Foundation artist’s grant), and volcanic and geothermal sites around the world.
In The Devil’s Highway, Myers continues a decades-long journey documenting the changing landscape and culture of the American West. The images bear witness to the slow fracturing of the American Dream, the demise of cowboy culture, and the shrinking of small towns, ranches, and farms throughout western rural America.
Myers will be joined by co-author and Pulitzer finalist William deBuys, whose short story Devil’s Highway is featured in the book. Myers and deBuys will discuss the themes reflected in the book and throughout their long-standing collaboration, including their earlier book Salt Dreams: Land and Water in Low-Down California, the inspiration for the highly acclaimed film, The Colorado.
Reception and book signing to follow. Reservations are required. Please send your RSVP to briscoecenterevents@austin.utexas.edu.
Sid Richardson Hall is located on The University of Texas at Austin campus at 2300 Red River Street. The Briscoe Center is in the middle of the three units. Self-parking is available in the Manor Garage.
The Devil’s Highway is published by the Briscoe Center for American History and distributed by the University of Texas Press.
About the Authors:
Joan Myers has been photographing for more than forty-five years. She has spent much of her time roaming the American West, but has also worked in India, the Canary Islands, Antarctica, Java, Sicily, Sardinia, Hawaii, and more. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Amon Carter Museum, Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, Center for Creative Photography, Denver Art Museum, George Eastman House, High Museum of Art, Minneapolis Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum of Modern Art, Nevada Museum of Art, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. Her extensive photo archive is now housed at the Briscoe Center for American History on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
William deBuys is the author of ten books, a Pulitzer Prize nonfiction finalist, and the recipient of a 2008–2009 Guggenheim Fellowship.
