Minding Nature
As toxic as the idea of the nature we existed amongst, was the reality of that nature itself, the real, physical toxins beneath our feet seeping under the foundation of our homes.
Concept
To sew the thread between how the layers of scars left by modern ideology on the environment (Industry/Factories) we categorized these layers by visiting and photographing abandoned industrial sites adjacent to neighborhoods. Many of the shots used I captured with my drone, the main Image was used as the cover for Humans in Nature's 2019 Publication: Minding Nature; a publication me and a few of my peers were asked to write a research based article that aligned with the mission of the Chicago based environmental organization.
When going out to capture the photographs for this project I sought to find scenes that juxtaposed the detached, analytical perspective of drone photography. This perspective was meant to mirror the way in which the communities that were the focus of our research was often viewed by the city's administration and large industrial corporations. These shots were combined with, personal, subjective relatability of traditional photography on location. Drone photography allowed me to highlight the scale of these sites, the urban context they exist within and the parallel timelines/contrasts that can be shown within each photograph.
Shown are images taken by drone, of the industrial enviorments that replaced native marshlands in the city's industrial corridors. As a continuation, Graphic elements that relate to each site's socioeconomic context sourced from open source maps and statistics were superimposed ontop of some of these images. Images were featured in a publication
Publication & Posters
Final Publication
I sought to highlight the juxtapositions found at the intersection of environmentalism and social activism. Living on the south side of Chicago myself It's easy to grow accustomed to living in the shadow of these abandoned industrial sites, to see them as apart of daily urban life. A drone shifted my perspective to see these sites in a new context and drove me to start researching them and the neighborhoods adjacent to them. As a countinuation and way of publicing the article/project I produced datavisualization posters from data I gathered through a bit of digging in census/enviormental records. These posters and larger metal prints were shown at the Hairpin Arts Center.
Data-Vis Posters
Gallery Show
Process
Data
Location Shots 001
Location Shots 002
