Bernard Plossu/'s New Mexico

Bernard Plossu, born in Vietnam in 1945, is one of today's best-known French photographers. His photos reflect locales he has visited all over the world: Senegal, Turkey, Poland, Mexico, Guatemala, and the American West. The photographs here were taken by Plossu in the late 1970s and depict New Mexico, where the sun, dust, rain, mud, wind, snow, altitude (7,000 feet), and smells create a unique atmosphere. "Bernard Plossu has given us a remarkable record of our own Southwest as seen through the eyes of a Frenchman. The viewer knows what Plossu is saying by the immediate impact followed by slow release. There are no clichés here. His subtle images must be teased from the data he provides. It is our own Southwest but seen in a new light from another point of view. We can learn and enjoy from all three: the images, the photographer, and what they release in us. We also learn that our teacher—and all good photographers teach—is far from conventional.".