Mimi Plumb – The reservoir

It could be the last of our days, the way the water is receding, and the sun unrelenting. The reservoirs, once vast and overflowing, shrink before our eyes; the distance to reach the lapping shores growing vaster with every page. Humanity traveling that distance, what was once yards, now a mile or more. Mimi Plumb, in her new book, The Reservoir, follows the trail of people dotting the parched landscape, recording the plight, the pilgrimage, and the reward. The light is magical. The scenes are sublime. The moments are suspended. The sequence of images leads us to the water’s edge and lets us decide if we want to keep going or not.

Mimi Plumb is part of a long tradition of socially engaged photographers concerned with California and the West. She received a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship in support of her current project, Reservoir.

Plumb will be the subject of a solo exhibition organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta in 2026. Her photographs are in the collections of the High Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Collection Deutsche Börse in Germany, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pier 24, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. She currently lives in Berkeley, California.

27.9 x 33 cm