Center for Photographic Art Opening, Artist Talk & Book Signing: Binh Danh, Belonging in the National Parks

The Center for Photographic Art (CPA) located in the historic Sunset Center, is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Binh Danh’s daguerreotypes of National Parks. This recent series of daguerreotypes celebrates the United States National Park system during its 110^th anniversary year and also asks the question of who belongs in the National Parks?
 
The daguerreotype is both mirror and memory. In this series, Binh Danh brings the reflective surface of a 19th-century process into dialogue with what Terry Tempest Williams once called the “open space of democracy.” These images ask us to see ourselves within the land, to recognize that belonging here is not only about access to wilderness, but also about inclusion, presence, and care. As you move before the daguerreotype plates, your reflection joins each scene, reminding us that the Parks are not apart from us, but shared ground where we might meet one another.

The daguerreotype demands a slower gaze, an intimacy with light, surface, and reflection that echoes our fragile relationship to land. The mirrored plate insists the viewer is never absent, always folded into the image, always part of the landscape. 
 
By turning to a 19th-century medium to reflect on 21st-century questions of access, identity, and stewardship, this work asks: Who belongs in the National Parks? Who has been excluded? And how might we imagine a more inclusive vision of belonging in these shared spaces?
 
Please join this acclaimed artist for a special artist talk about his process and his journey before the reception where Danh will be signing copies of his beautiful and important monograph, The Enigma of Belonging (Radius Books).
 
Binh Danh reimagines traditional photographic techniques to explore history, identity, and place. Known for his contemporary daguerreotypes of national parks, his reflective images invite viewers to see themselves within the American landscape. His work resides in major collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, SFMOMA, the de Young, and the Asian Art Museum. In 2023, his book Binh Danh: The Enigma of Belonging became the first recipient of the Minami Book Grant for Asian American Visual Artists from Radius Books. He is also an associate professor of art at San José State University.
 
What:    Binh Danh, Belonging in the National Parks
When:    Opening Reception: February 14, 4:00-6:00pm; Exhibition on view: Feb 14 through March 22, 2026. Gallery hours 12 to 4pm, Wednesday through Sunday and by appointment
Where:   Center for Photographic Art, Sunset Center, San Carlos & 9^th Avenue, Carmel-by-the-Sea
Tickets:  Free and open to the public  
 Info:       photography.org