‘CONTESTED LANDS’

Five photographers share their views of the "Picket Wire" in an exhibit highlighting the area's fragile beauty and tough, resilient character. "Contested Lands: Photographs Around the Picket Wire," on display at El Pueblo History Museum, brings together the work of James Peterson, Scott Engel, Thomas Neff, Kevin O'Connell and Charles Walters. Peterson's and Engel's are color photos and the others are black and white. "It's a unique look at the contested lands, the dispute and what they're fighting about," says Kathleen Eriksen, exhibit curator for El Pueblo. "Each photographer has a different view, taken from a different angle, with different lighting, in selected parts of the Picket Wire." Colorado Historical Society organized the exhibit, not to embroil viewers in the controversy over the Army's proposed expansion in Pinon Canyon — which flared and now has temporarily died down — but to show them the land in question so they can decide for themselves whether or not it's important, Eriksen says...read more