“I Hear America Singing,” curated by Ashley Lumb at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman, Jordan presents a wide and inclusive picture of contemporary American photography.

For 19th Century poet Walt Whitman, America was the sum of its people – an ambitious symbol of collective participation and responsibility. His 1860 poem “I Hear America Singing” celebrated democracy in its most ideal form - something the country has, for many, continuously fallen short. Taking its title from Whitman's poem, Ashley Lumb’s exhibition – the first exhibition of American photography to take place in Amman, Jordan – features the work of 16 contemporary American photographers showing the many experiences of America and American identity.

Lumb uses three themes: Landscape, Portraiture and American History to frame the exhibition. This ranges from Lucas Foglia's poetic images of rural America to Millee Tibbs folded abstractions that distort and push against the hyper-masculinity of early American Landscape photography. Highlights (but really, every image in the show eloquently articulates the puzzle of American identity) also include Wendell White's series "Schools for the Colored," which presents locations in Northeastern states that once functioned as segregated schools, digitally edited to "screen out" surrounding area, isolating them from white society.

I spoke with Lumb to learn more about this exciting and ambitious exhibition.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Ashley Lumb