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May. 14th, 2003
Secretary Norton derides the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as "an area of vast nothingness." Subhankar Banerjee proved her wrong, spending 14 months in the refuge to photograph America's greatest wildlife preserve in all seasons. His pictures are on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. But when Sen. Barbara Boxer showed Banerjee's photos on the Senate floor in March to make the case against drilling in the refuge, the Smithsonian moved his exhibit to the basement and replaced photo captions with one-line descriptions. One caption by Banerjee read: "The refuge has the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen and is so remote and untamed that many peaks, valleys and lakes are still without names." It was changed to read: "Unnamed Peak, Romanzof Mountains." Smithsonian officials deny they caved in to political pressure. But Banerjee said he was told by a museum official "there was pressure to even cancel the show."
