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Linda Butler’s latest exhibition, Yangtze Remembered: The River Beneath the Lake, details the dramatic transformation of the Yangtze River in central China, which was dammed and flooded in 2003, resulting in the relocation of more than a million living along its shores. Through her photographs, Butler shows the impact of such a decision, adding an often missing human element to the story of “progress.”

The initial phase of construction on the Three Gorges Dam was completed in June of 2003, flooding more than three hundred miles of the Yangtze River Valley. Linda Butler traveled to the area eight times between 2000 and 2003 to capture this change in progress. Her black and white images of the river provide a great medium for looking at the effects of the dam. “Tributary and Cliff Face, Wu Gorge” shows a small strip of water, etched into the bottom of a cavernous gorge. Accompanying information tells us that the water is now navigable by boats. In two other photographs, “Wu Gorge Upstream” and “Reservoir, Wu Gorge,” we are given an identical shot, taken before and after the flooding occured. The water level is significantly higher in the second, a path cut into the side of the cliff is now mostly submerged.

That path works to draw one back to the heart of Butler’s subject matter – the people affected by the Three Gorges Dam. We are shown many candids of life in villages which had to be abandoned. The most impactful of these, however, are the large, panoramic views of cities like Wanxian. “Old Town, Wanxian” is a sweeping view of a section of the city, in the midst of being “disassembled.” More than 60,000 will be relocated from here. Other shots show the housing projects which those dislocated are slated to move into – massive, uniform structures jutting out from the surrounding cityscape. The contrast between these buildings and the villages being flooded are apparent. The viewer is left wondering how those moved will adjust.

Linda Butler’s Yangtze Remembered: The River Beneath the Lake is being shown at Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art from January 21st till March 26th. Hours are from 10a.m. to 6p.m., Tuesday to Sunday. Admission is free, for more information call 607-255-6464.