Celebrate Our Newest National Treasure - White Sands National Park
The bill to designate White Sands National Monument as New Mexico's newest national park passed the Senate this month due to the efforts of U.S. Senator Heinrich and U.S. Representative Torres Small.
“For the first time since 1930, New Mexico will be home to our newest national park. This prestigious recognition of one of our state’s most remarkable natural wonders is an enormous victory for nearby communities and for all New Mexicans,” said Senator Martin Heinrich.
Adventuring into the surreal landscape of the great White Sands in southern New Mexico for many years, Craig Varjabedian became inspired by the region’s luminous, ever-changing dunes of sand to capture the remarkable images in his body of work entitled “Into the Great White Sands”. The artist skillfully chronicles his immersion into this breathtakingly vast and strikingly intimate world, and reveals the secret stories of this numinous place through emotionally evocative photographs. Varjabedian has suspended in time for the viewer - the many magical moments he experienced while chronicling the unique White Sands landscape.
Into the Great White Sands: Photographs by Craig Varjabedian, is an award-winning book and traveling exhibition celebrating this unique landscape as our newest national park - White Sands National Park.
White Sands is a place breathtakingly vast, encompassing 275 miles with a landscape entirely made of crystals of gypsum and possibly our next national park. Pure white dunes roll in waves for miles to the mountainous horizon- forming a landscape filled with spectacular color and astonishing light. The park is place brimming with a history both ancient and recently significant, contained in an environment with flourishing vegetation and wildlife - whose days begin in vivid sunrise and end in dramatically vibrant sunsets.
The exhibition is traveling to museums across the US to increase awareness of the importance of continued stewardship of this fragile landscape, while reaching out to a new generation of youth and their families to truly experience the wonder of White Sands National Park, as well as all our national parks. Varjabedian has been photographing and teaching photography workshops at the park and other national parks, like Yosemite National Park, for over forty years to share his enthusiasm and love for our national treasures.
