The Anthropocene is a proposed name for the geologic epoch we live in today and refers to human effects on the planet’s ecosystems. Anthro is the Greek word for human.
The images I’ve created are an attempt to illustrate the Anthropocene and our changing relationship with nature, specifically how we perceive nature and the impact we’ve had. Embedded in the images, seen to varying degrees, are hexagonal and square grids and the letters ATCG. These reference ways that we analyze the world (cartesian grids), how we display information such as molecules (hexagons), and the genome (ATCG). The work doesn’t require knowing this background, it’s just a part of how and why they were constructed.
The images were captured with a Sony RX100 or iPhone camera often pointed at flat surfaces such as grass, leaves, or pebbles on a beach. The surface area represents a substrate – one layer of nature. The photos embed info-graphics (grid, hexagon) into this natural substrate as a way of alluding to how we view and affect nature whether it be a blade of grass or a dirt road with elements such as carbon, pollutants, or construction. The point is we have impacted everything on a nano to macro scale – not just more powerful hurricanes and sea level rise but the whole natural environment in subtle and dramatic ways.
I first started using grids and graphics and embedding them in images back in the 1980s using early digital imaging and analog processes. Since that time I’ve explored combining natural and graphic structures. These images are the latest investigation into combining human-made elements and nature. The subject matter is nothing dramatic, just what we see every day. The goal is to show what we see in a way that is unique to our present time.