I am a photo-based artist whose work explores the relationship of landscape as a setting for human activity. I received both a BA and MA in Art History and this work is the culmination of a life-long investment in the power of visual culture to influence social change. My work addresses serious questions through invention and humor.
In this project I examine climate change through a lens of how humans chose to work with the geological landscape we are given. There have been 37 epochs in the history of the Earth. Humans have been here for less than two, but our impact has been greatly outsized. Nature will continue to reinvent itself, can we adapt with it? Will we be part of the next chapter? I have mounted scenes of human habitation behind acrylic, as if we can separate the things we do from having an impact on the natural world. I affixed these scenes within sweeping landscapes of the desert southwest United States, a stand-in for a future planet broadly shaped by rising temperatures. The constructed world behind the acrylic is protected, while the landscapes, though durably printed on aluminum, remain exposed. A continuity of line and color between these scenes points to their interconnectedness. The multi-layered images are finished with hand-painted wooden frames, alluding to the next chapter in the planet’s history. As the image pushes beyond its edges, the story continues to evolve.