For years, Mark Klett has been photographing the deserts of the American West, in particular the beauties of the Sonoran desert landscape, a desert that sprawls across southern Arizona and the northern Mexican state of Sonora. Along with coyotes, the full moon, and tumbleweeds, saguaro cacti are one of the most recognizable (and stereotypical) features of the Sonoran landscape. His portraits of these giants cacti, made from the beginning of his career to the present, are straightforward and frontal, objective yet inspired. Klett is known for teasing out the implications of man’s presence—both historical and recreational—in the landscape. In this case, vital young saguaros, middle-aged contenders with gunshot wounds, and wizened elders are treated as wise inhabitants. This handsome, oversized book presents a selection of these portraits, coupled with an essay by an acclaimed writer, Gregory McNamee.

About the Artist

Mark Klett is a mature photographer of national renown with major gallery representation and publication history. His other titles include SECOND VIEW: The Rephotographic Survey Project, (University of New Mexico Press 1984); THIRD VIEWS, SECOND SIGHTS: A Rephotographic Survey of the American West, (Museum of New Mexico Press 2004); YOSEMITE IN TIME: Ice Ages, Tree Clocks,Ghost Rivers, (Trinity University Press 2005); which was a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of the Year for 2005, and AFTER THE RUINS 1906 AND 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, (University of California Press 2006). The work featured in Saguaros has been exhibited widely and was published in part in Revealing Territory (now out-of-print). Klett is represented by several AIPAD galleries, including Lisa Sette in Scottsdale, AZ, Paul Kopeikin in Los Angeles, CA, and Candace Perich in Katonah, NY.

About the Author

A longtime citizen of the Sonoran Desert, Gregory McNamee has written more than 25 books, including GILA: The Life and Death of an American River (University of New Mexico Press 1994) a classic work on the natural and human history of the Southwest. He is a contributing editor and consultant in world geography to Encyclopaedia Britannica and a regular contributor to many other publications.