Caspian: The Elements

For five years British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews traveled through the countries surrounding the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and Iran. In images that range from stark and elemental to lush and mysterious, she recorded the vastly diverse peoples, politics, and geography of Central Asia, centering always on the great inland sea. In this conversation with Makeda Best, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums, Dewe Mathews will discuss her project and new book, Caspian: The Elements (2018, Aperture and Peabody Museum Press), along with her new Peabody Museum exhibition.