The Reservoir: Mimi Plumb in conversation with Allie Haeusslein

Join us on Thursday, June 5th at 6:00 PM PDT for a special evening at Leica Store San Francisco!

We’re thrilled to host a photobook conversation between artist Mimi Plumb and curator Allie Haeusslein. The discussion will center on Plumb’s latest publication with Nazraeli Press, The Reservoir, a compelling visual meditation on drought, climate change, and the quiet tensions that define contemporary life in the American West.

From 2021 to 2023, Mimi Plumb photographed two reservoirs in California’s Central Valley during a twenty-three-year megadrought. The Reservoir weaves together images of the rapidly receding lakes and the people who continue to seek leisure at their shores. Families arrive with dogs, babies and baby carriages, inner tubes, kayaks, rafts, umbrellas, coolers, and tents. As summer wears on and the shoreline retreats, they often walk over a mile to reach the water. At times, the sky is tinted with smoke from nearby wildfires.

* RSVP is required, seating will be available on a first come first serve basis. Conversation will begin at 6:30pm, and will be followed a book signing with Mimi Plumb.

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Mimi Plumb is a socially engaged photographer whose work continues a rich tradition of documenting California and the American West with a critical and poetic lens. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Plumb is currently at work on The Reservoir, an exploration of drought, climate change, and anxiety in the contemporary landscape. Her acclaimed photobooks include Landfall (TBW Books, 2018), shortlisted for both the Paris Photo/Aperture Foundation First Photobook Award and the Lucie Photo Book Prize; The White Sky (Stanley/Barker, 2020); The Golden City (Stanley/Barker, 2022); Megalith-Still (Stanley/Barker, 2023); and most recently, Lookout on Highway 74 (Nazraeli Press, 2025).

Plumb’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the High Museum of Art, LACMA, Pier 24, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others. In 2026, she will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Plumb earned both her BFA and MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and has taught at institutions including Stanford University, San Jose State University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives and works in Berkeley, California. To learn more about Mimi Plumb's work, please visit: https://mimiplumb.com

Allie Haeusslein is a curator and writer specializing in contemporary photography, currently serving as Director of Pier 24 Photography in San Francisco, one of the largest spaces dedicated to the medium in North America. Since joining the institution in 2012, she has overseen major exhibitions, publications, and educational initiatives, including Looking Back: Ten Years of Pier 24 Photography, Looking Forward, and Turning the Page, the museum’s final exhibition. Her writing has appeared in Aperture, British Journal of Photography, ART21 Magazine, and Foam, and she has contributed to and edited numerous exhibition catalogues.

An active presence in the arts community, Haeusslein serves on the board of Creativity Explored and frequently participates as a juror and portfolio reviewer for photography awards and festivals. She holds a BA in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, an MA in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, and has completed the Comprehensive Appraisal Studies Program at the Appraisers Association of America. She lives and works in San Francisco. To learn more about Allie Haeusslein, please visit: https://www.alliehaeusslein.com

Nazraeli Press, founded in 1990, is renowned for its innovative and finely crafted publications on the fine and applied arts. With over 600 titles to its name, the press is celebrated for its inventive use of materials ranging from paper and wood to plastic and metal, and for incorporating hand-crafted elements into its editions, blurring the line between book and art object. Its publications span a wide array of formats, from postcard-sized books and oversized monographs to scrolls, portfolios, and loose prints housed in custom boxes. Notably, its long-running One Picture Book series, relaunched in 2018 in an elevated format, features limited editions of 500 copies, each including a signed original photograph. The press’s books are held in the permanent collections of major institutions such as MoMA, Stanford University, UCLA, Yale University Art Museum, and The Huntington Library, and have themselves become subjects of exhibitions and scholarship. To learn more about Nazraeli Press, please visit: https://www.nazraeli.com

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Where: Leica Store San Francisco, 463 Bush St, San Francisco.

When: Thursday, June 5th, 2025, 6:00 – 8:00 PM PDT

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Top Image:
Mimi Plumb, Afloat, from series The Reservoir

Bottom Image:
Mimi Plumb, Quarterback, from series The Reservoir