Field Book 

Jordan Putt (American, b, 1992) was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona-a city in the desert just north of the US-Mexico border where bright hot days regularly reach temperatures above 100 degrees and where the dry dirt on the ground seldom feels rain. Since the age of twelve, Putt has worked alongside his father as a land surveyor, precisely measuring, mapping, and drawing borders around the terrain. Eventually, he began carrying a medium-format camera with him on the job, following in the long tradition of landscape photographers who have attempted to document and survey the American West with cameras.

Putt adds a distinct view to this tradition. Instead of offering views of pristine mountain ranges and rugged cowboys one might imagine of the West, his series Field Book (2016-ongoing) shows us messy, banal, and humorous moments that can encompass life in open spaces. In fact, we rarely see the Arizona landscape at all. Instead, his images bring us inside homes, backyards, and small social gatherings. He captures people hunkering down indoors, avoiding the heat and squinting from the glaring sun peeking through the blinds. He shows us personal objects-such as beer cans partially smashed and littered around a truck, or a wedding ring in a plastic bag in someone's hand- detailing variances of what people consider significant, insignificant, or sacred. He shows us animals, but instead of the romantic depiction of a man taming a wild stallion, we see pet dogs in a stroller or attached to a leash with coiffed pale pink fur. Many of the images are witty, while telling a deeper story about our relationships to our country, to one another, and to the land.

Now living in Chicago and enduring a considerably darker and colder climate, Putt returns to Arizona only when he can, and always with a renewed vision and perspective on the place he still calls home. Some of the people he photographs are old friends. Others are people he is drawn to who reflect the spirit that he sees in the land or, in his words, “curate their own spaces.” He finds moments that are absurd and mundane, mashing the two up next to one another to create perplexing images that ask us to linger longer — frame by frame, map line by map line — and to experience the beauty, grit, and quiet magnificence of his American West.

Kristin Taylor 

Curator of Academic Programs and Collections 
Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago 

Artist Contact

- Jordan Putt -

Jordankputt@gmail.com 

Jordanputt.com 

520-240-8672