Forests in the Anthropocene 

Rumbling Bald, NC (1), version 1 (2021), solarized and roasted gelatin silver print, 8 x 10” 

Rumbling Bald, NC (5), version 1 (2021) solarized and burned gelatin silver print, 9.75 x 7.5 inches (burned) 10 x 8 inches (paper size) (Photograph © Dot Editions 2021)

Rumbling Bald, NC (4), version 1 (2021), solarized and burned gelatin silver print, 10 x 8”

Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, NC (2), version 4 (2021), solarized and burned gelatin silver print, 4 x 10 inches (burned) 8 x 10 inches (paper size) (Photograph © Dot Editions 2021)

Rumbling Bald, NC (3), version 1, (2021), solarized and burned gelatin silver print, 6.74 x 9.5 inches (burned 8 x 10 inches (paper size)

“Forests in the Anthropocene” is a photography project that explores how human-made climate change affects forests. Forests are major carbon sinks and remain among the most critical ecosystems to preserve, covering 31% of the globe’s land surface, with half of the world’s forests in the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America, and China[1].

Forests are essential for biodiversity, water and oxygen supply, food production, livelihoods, and climate change mitigation. However, deforestation and degradation continue at alarming rates, and, alongside rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, they are increasing average and extreme temperatures worldwide.

Depending on their geographic location, trees face a variety of climate change impacts, from rising temperatures to drought, fires, invasive pests, flooding, storms, sea-level rise, or saltwater intrusion. Using 4x5 film and a large-format camera, I photographed forests in two U.S. states and climate zones (North Carolina and Massachusetts) to show the impacts of global warming.  
[1]

FAO and UNEP. 2022. The State of the World’s Forests 2022. Forests, biodiversity and people. Rome. https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb9360en


Rumbling Bald, NC (4), version 2 (2021), solarized and burned gelatin silver print, 9.75 x 7.5 inches (Photograph © Dot Editions 2021)

Wayah Bald, NC (3), version 2 (2021), solarized and roasted gelatin silver print, 14 x 11” (Photograph © Dot Editions 2021)

2019 - Ongoing
Different Sizes
Unique Gelatin Silver Prints and
Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 5 (1 AP)

Wayah Bald, NC (1), version 1 (2021), solarized gelatin silver print, 24 x 20” 

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC (1), version 1 (2021), solarized gelatin silver print, 11 x 14”

Harvard Forest, MA (1), version 1 (2021), solarized and ripped gelatin silver print, 16 x 20”

Lumber River, NC (1), (2021), archival pigment print, 30 x 37.5”

I used specific photographic processes to represent each impact. For example, I invoke warming through solarizing prints in the darkroom; drought with solarized prints roasted in a kiln; sea level rise by mirroring gelatin silver prints; saltwater intrusion by adding sea salt from the North Carolina coast. The resulting photographs are presented as an installation with both color and black-and-white photographs.

 

Nags Head Woods Preserve, NC (1) (2021), archival pigment print, 24 x 20”

The Frying Pan, NC (1) (2021), archival pigment print, 8 x 10”

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, NC (1), version 1 (2021) archival pigment print, 8 x 10”

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, NC (2), version 1 (2021) archival pigment print, 8 x 10”

Cape Fear River, NC (1), (2022), archival pigment print, 16 x 20”

Photography creates a plethora of carbon emissions, including travel to locations, shipping, and supplies such as paper and darkroom chemicals. I tried to stay as local as possible to minimize carbon emissions. I photographed the first part of the project in Massachusetts while attending a residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and as a visiting researcher at Harvard Forest in 2019. I photographed the second part of the project in North Carolina, where I lived for several years until 2022. I thank Prof. Peter White (UNC Chapel Hill), Robert Leverett, the researchers at Harvard Forest, and the Southern Research Station for their scientific input.

I offset the carbon emissions generated by this project through www.carbonfootprint.com.  

This project was supported by awards from the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, the Institute for the Arts & Humanities, and the Department of Art & Art History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.