Nevada Wier: Veiled Reveries, on view from June 19 through August 7, 2026, presents a striking selection of recent infrared photographs by Nevada Wier, an artist internationally recognized for her visual explorations of remote cultures and landscapes. Based in Santa Fe but often working across Asia, Africa, and South America, Wier has spent decades documenting communities with an approach that balances intimacy and visual experimentation. In this exhibition, she moves beyond conventional color photography, using infrared technology to reveal scenes that feel both familiar and dreamlike.
Infrared photography records wavelengths of light beyond what the human eye can see, transforming ordinary landscapes and portraits into luminous, almost surreal compositions. Wier began working with infrared film in the 1990s using Kodak EIR slide film before transitioning fully to digital systems and eventually converting a camera specifically for infrared capture. Her images retain the integrity of the original scene—she crops sparingly and does not alter content—but the resulting palette shifts reality into something more ethereal. Trees glow with pale radiance, skies deepen into unexpected tones, and human presence takes on a quiet, reflective quality.
The exhibition gathers photographs from around the world, shaped by Wier’s long career photographing for publications including National Geographic,
Smithsonian, and
The New York Times Magazine. Her work often centers on people living in geographically isolated regions, and even within the altered language of infrared, that human connection remains central. Portraits are never reduced to exotic spectacle; instead, they invite a closer reading of gesture, expression, and environment. The “veiled” quality of the title reflects both the photographic process and the act of seeing across cultural distance.
Wier’s commitment to controlling every stage of production—from camera to final print—underscores the technical precision behind the work. She describes infrared photography as requiring not only an understanding of what to photograph, but also how to interpret and print what cannot be seen directly. This combination of craft and curiosity defines
Veiled Reveries. The exhibition offers viewers a chance to encounter the world through another spectrum of light, where photography becomes less about recording appearances and more about revealing hidden dimensions of place, memory, and human presence.
Image:
Nevada Wier, China. Guizhou Province. Gaoxing Village. Longhorn Miao. 2013. © Nevada Wier, courtesy of the Obscura Gallery