Dornith Doherty
Cross-pollinate
September 12 – October 24, 2026
Reception for the Artist Saturday, September 12, 3-5 pm
Artist Talk 4 pm
Moody Gallery is proud to present Cross-pollinate, an exhibition of recent photographs by Dornith
Doherty. Cross-pollinate, Doherty’s second solo show at the gallery, is on view September 12 –
October 24, 2026.
For artist Dornith Doherty, making art is a form of advocacy. Doherty, who primarily works with
photography, video, animation, and scientific imaging, uses her art to address and illuminate the
grave ecological and environmental issues of today. For this exhibition, Doherty spent two years
imaging mid-twentieth century scientific microscope slides. In her own words, “I have combined
these slides with herbarium specimens spanning different time periods and parts of the world,
creating layered palimpsests that collapse temporal boundaries and evoke the tension between
preservation and erasure.” Though the philosophical and ecological issues Doherty deals with are
complex and consequential, her visual poetry is far from gloomy or somber. Her compositions are
sophisticated, lively, and dynamic and her palette is sublimely vibrant at times. The works on view
in Cross-pollinate exhibit Doherty’s immense appreciation for botanical life. In her artmaking, she
utilizes the beauty and intricacies of plants with the hopes that viewers will reconsider the history
of entanglement between people and plants.
Born in Houston, Texas, Dornith Doherty (b. 1957) received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice
University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography from Yale University. She serves as
Distinguished Research Professor at the University of North Texas. Doherty has received grants
for her artmaking from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the US Fulbright
Program, the Japan Foundation, the United States Department of the Interior, the University of
North Texas, the Houston Center for Photography, and the Indiana Arts Commission. Her work has
been featured in solo exhibitions at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, the Amon
Carter Museum of American Art, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, and the Dayton Art Institute
among others. Doherty’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Art
Museum of Southeast Texas, Lamar University, the Martin Museum of Art at Baylor University,
University of Texas at San Antonio, Museum of Texas Tech University, Milwaukee Art Museum,
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, Yale University
Library, Brandts Museum of Art and Visual Culture in Denmark, UT Southwestern Medical Center,
MD Anderson, City of Denton, Federal Reserve Bank, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Centro
de Fotografía in Spain.
Doherty’s work is on view in the exhibitions Simulacra: Dornith Doherty, Etsuko Ichikawa, and Bill
Viola at the GOCA, ENT Center for the Arts, Colorado Springs, Colorado through October 10, 2026,
Ellas Ilustran Botánica at the Centro de Arte y Naturaleza, Huesca, Spain through November 1,
2026, and Prairie Festival Exhibition, Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas September 16 - December
16, 2026.
Moody Gallery is open Tuesday - Friday 10:30 am - 5:00 pm and Saturday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. For
more information, please call or email the gallery at 713-526-9911 or info@moodygallery.com.
Cross-pollinate can also be viewed online at www.moodygallery.com.
