What we can see determines what we care about, understand, and take action around. From nineteenth-century scenic paintings to photographs of abandoned cars in New York Harbor, eyes on the Hudson River have built momentum for activism to protect the waterway and the complex ecologies it supports. This story drives the exhibition Hudson Rising, on view at the New-York Historical Society through August 4. A vital waterway that New Yorkers have depended on for shipping, food, building materials and recreation, the river has long faced environmental destruction, from industrial pollution to storm surges exacerbated by a changing climate.

Over the last two centuries, artists have painted, sketched and photographed the Hudson, while scientists, surveyors and others have mapped the river landscape as a first step to shaping it with human hands. Exhibition associate curator Jeanne Haffner explains how some of these historical images are finding new uses as activists, scientists, and designers look to the past to chart the river’s future.

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