Tria Giovan

The ocean and the beach have always provided humankind with ready metaphors for the infinite. For New York photographer Tria Giovan, the beaches of Long Island inspired a fascinating attempt to comprehend their vastness and that of the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Known for her portraits of Cuban daily life (collected in Cuba: The Elusive Island) and her regular publication in magazines such as Aperture, Elle, Harpers and Vogue, Giovan has traveled all over the globe throughout her 25-year career, but here she has decided to stay close to home. Accumulating roughly 10,000 photographs of the undisturbed Sagaponack beaches on the eastern end of Long Island, Giovan charted the change of seasons and myriad shifts of light and atmosphere as the tides rose and receded each day. With a selection of 63 captivating prints and an accompanying essay by ecologist Carl Safina, Sand Sea Sky offers the photographer's meditations on fragility, the vastness of nature and the inevitability of change. As Giovan also observes: "these photographs of this vulnerable landscape invite a thoughtful concern about the environmental preservation of special places that engage our capacity for wonder."