Island Arrivals

“Island Arrivals” greets passengers at Key West International Airport with a sweeping visual introduction to the natural beauty of the Florida Keys. Renowned photographer Clyde Butcher, celebrated for his large-format black-and-white images of Florida’s wild landscapes, created this site-specific installation for the renovated arrivals terminal.

The work consists of six monumental photographic prints, each measuring four by eight feet, mounted on aluminum panels along the terminal corridor. The images progress geographically from the mangrove estuaries of the Upper Keys through the open waters of the Seven Mile Bridge to the tropical hardwood hammocks of Key West, offering arriving travelers a visual journey through the landscapes they are about to experience.

Butcher’s decision to work in black and white strips the Keys of their familiar postcard palette, revealing instead the dramatic interplay of light, texture, and form that defines these islands. The installation has been praised by travelers and local officials alike as a fitting introduction to a destination whose natural environment is its most precious asset. It was commissioned through a collaboration between the AIPP program and the Monroe County Airport Authority.