Hot Spots
March 3 – April 2, 1994
The first time we saw lava flowing out of the earth we were hooked. Surrounding us was a stark, paradoxical landscape that spoke simultaneously of creation and destruction. It was a vision that might prompt some to flee, but instead we found ourselves drawn by its primordial power. At that instant we knew our challenge would be to document the age-old, but still ongoing process of the earth creating itself. Since that transforming moment we photographed volcanoes, and their progeny – cinder cones, lava tubes, and geysers – all across America.
Diane Cook and Len Jenshel are two of America’s foremost landscape photographers, exploring beauty, boundary and the control of nature for over 50 years. They were married in 1983, and began collaborating in 1991.
In the fine arts, they have received numerous fellowships including the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, three grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Design Trust for Public Space, and two grants from the National Geographic Society.
Their monographs include Travels in the American West (Smithsonian, 1992), Hot Spots: America’s Volcanic Landscape (Bulfinch Press, 1996), Aquarium (Aperture, 2003), and their latest book, Wise Trees (Abrams, 2017).
Their photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries in over fifty one-person shows – including the Yokohama Museum in Tokyo, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the International Center of Photography in New York City, to name a few. Their work is represented in over one hundred museums and major collections worldwide. They have been represented in group shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; George Eastman House, Rochester; ICP, New York; National Museum, Smithsonian, Washington, DC; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to name just a few.
In the magazine world, their work has been published in numerous domestic and international publications, including National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, Harpers, The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Magazine, Audubon, Fortune, Bloomberg, Forbes, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Sophisticated Traveler, Esquire, and many others.
Len and Diane reside in New York City.