Artist Mark Dion will undergo a series of journeys through Texas retracing the footsteps of 19th-century explorers including ornithologist and artist John James Audubon, watercolorist Sarah Ann Lillie Hardinge, architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and botanist Charles Wright.

The result of these trips will be a site-specific, large-scale installation created by Dion coupled with works on paper, paintings, and archival materials from the Amon Carter’s collection in the exhibition The Perilous Texas Adventures of Mark Dion opening February 2020.

Dion, who connects his work to history and the past, is one of the most well-regarded living artists today. He is part explorer, part historian, part naturalist, and part collector of curiosities. His large-scale installations are evocations of the past in their materials and ethos, but address today’s culture head-on with intellect and humor. Over the course of two years, Dion will visit four distinct areas of Texas, including the Gulf Coast; West Texas; King Ranch and Austin; and finally San Antonio. Dion’s traversing of the state, more than 150 years after Audubon, Hardinge, Olmsted, and Wright visited, enhances our understanding of the past and ultimately brings it to life in the present day.