Unidentified Photographer, [Unidentified Woman Sitting on Fallen Tree in Forest], ca. 1909
Dan Weiner, Sunbathers, Czechoslovakia, 1957
Laura McPhee, Banyan Tree and 16th Century Terracotta Temple, Attpur, West Bengal, India, 1988
Eugène Atget, Trianon, 1910-14
Alfred Eisenstaedt, Giant oak tree in N’Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, 1968
Robert Adams, Clear-cut and burned, East Arch Cape, Oregon, 1976
Mary Mattingly, The New Mobility of Home, 2004
In Mary Mattingly’s view of the future, the earth’s fate is a foregone conclusion. The only allusion to the forces that have colluded to engender the water-bound Eden she foretells in her work is the occasional appearance of corporate entities, glimmering on distant islands, She focuses instead on the lives we will lead.
Mattingly presents us with a future in which civilization as we know it has been dismantled, and a generation of nomadic post-consumers roam the irretrievably altered landscape. These “navigators,” as she calls them, busy themselves creating and utilizing adaptive technology. Natural beauty remains, and human communion with technology has become organic and, to some degree, sustaining…
If their ad hoc inventions seem dubious in the face of the powerful presence of nature, in Mattingly’s new world all is far from lost. Her faith in our physical survival reflects a faith in the promise of technology. The alienation reflected in her isolated navigators reflects Mattingly’s underlying concern: How will technology address our enduring need to connect?
Ecotopia, The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, 2006, p. 166
“Are you worried about climate change? Don’t sweat it.”
A beautiful solution can be found here.
Unbelievably beautiful and profound images of the sun can be seen here.
