In Salt of the Earth, I use a vivid and abstract visual language to examine the impact of human activity on the environment. Vibrant colors and geometric forms are combined with shifting viewpoints to enhance the surreal nature of these transforming landscapes. Salt Ponds have existed in the San Francisco Bay since the 1800s and are characterized by environmentalists as having taken away the lungs of the Bay. Over the last twelve years, I have deepened my exploration of this constantly evolving subject by adjusting my perspective and photographing from the air, the ground and beneath the water with a macro lens. Several years into the project I began creating formal grids based on the year they were photographed and a common color palette. I used the grid to reshape the landscape and transform it into something new. This reconfiguration emphasizes the surreal nature of these sites already altered and deformed by human activity.
Salt Pond Grid VII (Macro & Underwater
$3,200
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STATEMENT
In Salt of the Earth, I use a vivid and abstract visual language to examine the impact of human activity on the environment. Vibrant colors and geometric forms are combined with shifting viewpoints to enhance the surreal nature of these transforming landscapes. Salt Ponds have existed in the San Francisco Bay since the 1800s and are characterized by environmentalists as having taken away the lungs of the Bay. Over the last twelve years, I have deepened my exploration of this constantly evolving subject by adjusting my perspective and photographing from the air, the ground and beneath the water with a macro lens. These images are a visual representation of the ongoing efforts to restore wetlands and bring back the natural biodiversity of the Bay. My ultimate goal in the creation of this work is to raise awareness about the miraculous power of nature to regenerate and renew, as well as the crucial need to preserve our natural spaces. I started going up in a helicopter to take aerial photographs of the Salt Ponds in 2010 and have continued for over a decade. These images reveal human incursions in the landscape resulting in complex geometries and artifacts due to the limited biodiversity. This is evidenced by the apocalyptic oranges, reds and purples where only two organisms can survive in this man-made, high salinity environment: anaerobic algae that produce carotenoids and a brine shrimp species unique to the San Francisco Bay. After several years of taking these aerial photographs, I had thousands of images and I began creating formal grids based on the year they were photographed and a common color palette. Areas of the Bay that have already been restored back to natural wetlands show increased biodiversity with a green color palette. To date I have eight grids that reflect different stages of the progression of the restoration.
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