David Benjamin Sherry is a photographer with an unusual approach to the Western landscape. Born in 1981 in Woodstock, New York, he got his MFA in photography from Yale and began making vibrant monochrome color prints that reflect queer themes in their tactile, almost erotic sense of the land, together with a mystical link to the natural world.

David Benjamin Sherry: American Monuments features 31 hand-tipped large-format photographs of the 27 national monuments created since 1996 that are now under presidential review. In the last days of 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans to shrink two recently designated national monuments in Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — largely at the behest of oil and uranium mining interests. Sherry documents the eerie beauty of these sacred and diverse sites while shedding light on the perennial exploitation of the American West. Thoughtful essays by Terry Tempest Williams and Bill McKibben accompany the images.

David Benjamin Sherry: American Monuments
By Terry Tempest Williams and Bill McKibben; photographs by David Benjamin Sherry
160 pages, hardcover: $75
Radius Books, 2019

Jolene Yazzie is an editorial intern at High Country News. Email her at joleneyazzie@hcn.org.  Follow @joleneyazzie

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Photos explore the eerie and erotic of public lands

by Jolene Yazzie, High Country News
November 25, 2019

<h1>Photos explore the eerie and erotic of public lands</h1> <p class="byline">by Jolene Yazzie, High Country News <br />November 25, 2019</p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter" data-effect="slide"> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container"> <ul class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper"> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="13-the-wave-on-the-coyote-buttes-paria-canyon" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87615" data-id="87615" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/13.-The-Wave-on-the-Coyote-Buttes-Paria-Canyon-Grand-Staircase-Escalante-National-Monument-Arizona-2017.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">The Wave on the Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Arizona, 2017. </figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="14-grand-plateau-grand-staircase-escalante" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87616" data-id="87616" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/14.-Grand-Plateau-Grand-Staircase-Escalante-National-Monument-Utah-2017.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Grand Plateau, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, 2017.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="17-castle-rock-grand-staircase-escalante-national" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87617" data-id="87617" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/17.-Castle-Rock-Grand-Staircase-Escalante-National-Monument-Utah-2017.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Castle Rock, Grand Staircase Escalante National Park, Utah.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="18-cottonwood-tree-summer-bears-ears-national" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87618" data-id="87618" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/18.-Cottonwood-Tree-Summer-Bears-Ears-National-Monument-2017.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Two Intertwined Cottonwoods Trees, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, 2018.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="2-muley-point-i-bears-ears-national-monument-utah" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87619" data-id="87619" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2.-Muley-Point-I-Bears-Ears-National-Monument-Utah-2018.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">The view from Muley Point III, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, 2018.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="2-newspaper-rock-petroglyph-bears-ears-national" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87620" data-id="87620" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2.-Newspaper-Rock-Petroglyph-Bears-Ears-National-Monument-Utah-2018.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Many Hands Petroglyph, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, 2018.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="3-devilas-garden-grand-staircase-escalante" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87621" data-id="87621" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3.-Devils-Garden-Grand-Staircase-Escalante-National-Monument-Utah-2018.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Devil’s Garden, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, 2018,</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="5-bears-ears-bears-ears-national-monument-utah" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87622" data-id="87622" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/5.-Bears-Ears-Bears-Ears-National-Monument-Utah-2018.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, 2018.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="8-wahweap-hoodoos-grand-staircase-escalante" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87623" data-id="87623" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/8.-Wahweap-Hoodoos-Grand-Staircase-Escalante-National-Monument-Utah-2018.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">Wahweap Hoodoos, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, 2014.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="dbs_cover_v-5-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-87624" data-id="87624" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DBS_Cover_v.5-scaled.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">dbs_cover_v-5-jpg</figcaption></figure> </li> </ul> <p> <a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><br /> <a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><br /> <a aria-label="Pause Slideshow" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause" role="button"></a></p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white"></div> </p></div> </p></div> <p class="p1">David Benjamin Sherry is a photographer with an unusual approach to the Western landscape. Born in 1981 in Woodstock, New York, he got his MFA in photography from Yale and began making vibrant monochrome color prints that reflect queer themes in their tactile, almost erotic sense of the land, together with a mystical link to the natural world.</p> <p class="p2"><i>David Benjamin Sherry: American Monuments </i>features 31 hand-tipped large-format photographs of the 27 national monuments created since 1996 that are now under presidential review. In the last days of 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans to shrink two recently designated national monuments in Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — largely at the behest of oil and uranium mining interests. Sherry documents the eerie beauty of these sacred and diverse sites while shedding light on the perennial exploitation of the American West. Thoughtful essays by Terry Tempest Williams and Bill McKibben accompany the images.</p> <p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1"> </p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full alignleft"><img src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DBS_Cover_v.5-scaled.jpg?fit=2225%2C2560&amp;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-87624" /></figure> <p> </span></strong></p> <p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1">David Benjamin Sherry: American Monuments</span></strong><br />By Terry Tempest Williams and Bill McKibben; photographs by David Benjamin Sherry<br />160 pages, hardcover: $75<br />Radius Books, 2019</p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p><em>Jolene Yazzie is an editorial intern at<span> </span></em><span>High Country News. </span><i><span>Email her at <i><span style="font-weight: 400"><a href="mailto:joleneyazzie@hcn.org">joleneyazzie@hcn.org</a>. </span></i> </span></i><i><a href="https://twitter.com/joleneyazzie" class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" data-size="large">Follow @joleneyazzie</a></i></p> <p>// </p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=187750">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">Photos explore the eerie and erotic of public lands</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/51-20/photos-explore-the-eerie-and-erotic-of-public-lands/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hcn.org">High Country News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.hcn.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=120290&amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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