Lands In the Public Trust: A Photographic Journey (2005-2024)
The National Parks are America's jewels but they occupy a tangential space in the American psyche. They are beset by news of unprecedented fires, disappearing water and mismanagement. They are under budget and under-staffed and despite public idealization our parks are not considered a voter concern in elections.
They are places to flee to in a pandemic world, but an uneducated stream of visitors has trampled their fragile ecosystems. The impacts on National Parks from governmental neglect, overuse, resource extraction, wildfire and environmental degradation have made them vulnerable in ways they have never been before.
My photographs celebrate the beauty of the natural world, but they also chronicle how humans harm the biology of plants, animals, lakes and rivers and forests meant to bring them harmony. My recent focus has been on the spectacle of the burnt forest as a harbinger of a new natural landscape that bears echoes of the sublime. As climate change continues to evolve these haunted landscapes will increase in number and will stand as a reminder of what mankind has done to the planet.
