Once We Were Here

I consider myself privileged: I am white, male, educated, healthy, living in the Western world. I am, however, part of a disenchanted generation: born after WWII when globalization seemed like a great idea, a path towards one big happy family, only to be awakened to a hard reality of inequality and environmental abuse. Now, hardly a day goes by without some alarming news: ice melting, fresh water contamination, overpopulation, corporate greed, food poisoning, oil dependency, wealth inequality, the list goes on. The world has become a playground for the very few at the expense of the many, losing its mystery and raw, unadulterated beauty. I believe the resulting sense of powerlessness has left us disenfranchised, resulting in a lack of social or environmental accountability. 

But is this really the only way? Do we really need to follow this dead-end path?

I experience the context for the work as presenting the viewer with a world where humanity's need for insatiable consumption has led it to the ultimate consumption, that of the consumption of the self. From this point, we are faced with a natural world in which humanity has disappeared and only nature remains, in its solemness. We are reunited with nature's beauty and mystery. Nature endured and overcame the weight of humanity's selfish behaviors.

Presented as a hypothetical archeological study on the nature of co-existence, it is my hope that we can still assume both global and individual responsibility, that we can still change our path forward.

Prints are on Inbe 125 gsm Japanese paper, signed and numbered in front.

Limited edition of:

5 at 44"w x 28"h + 1 AP

9 at 29"w x 18"h+ 2 AP