David Plowden’s Iowa

May 4, 2026

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February 7, 2027

David Plowden’s Iowa, a series of black and white photographs shot over four decades, takes a sharp and expansive view of Iowa’s rural communities and agricultural landscapes, including barns, grain elevators, rail lines, businesses, highways, and the remains of once-busy towns. Since Plowden rarely captures any of the people who live in these towns, the images feel both familiar and slightly estranged. Plowden doesn’t editorialize. He doesn’t frame his subjects with nostalgia or critique. He sees what is there and photographs it with quiet conviction. The 64 photographs in the series create a portrait of Iowa that’s plainspoken, layered, and a little uncanny. You get the sense that change is not the same as progress. It is one person’s history of a place, but it’s also about us: what we notice, what we overlook, and what lingers after we leave.

David Plowden’s Iowa was originally organized by Humanities Iowa. Proclaimed “an American treasure” by historian David McCullough, David Plowden has produced 20 books of photos and won many prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967. The accompanying exhibition catalog contains over 70 pages of photographs, along with an introductory essay by Rima Girnius, PhD, a short biography as well as a conversation with Plowden about his work.