Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

PHOTO ESSAY

Can humans capture the natural world via photography? A journey across marginal worlds involving spaces, places and, atmospheres.    


Streets of Redfern, New South Wales   2017

When considering the notion of ‘the marginal’ from an ecological perspective, we often visualise the expanse of the ocean, the edge of the sea, as well as the connection of water to land, animals, and everything in between. American marine biologist Rachel Carson defines the edge of the sea as an ‘elusive and indefinable boundary’, with a dynamic relationship to the shore. A similar theme can be observed in the suburb of Redfern, which has contributed to the rich history of Sydney since its grant of 100 acres in 1817 by William Redfern. The construction of streets, Victorian terraces, housing and commercial developments constitute a community, akin to the way in which the interaction of ocean and land forms an environment where the sand, cliffs and sea creatures adhere to its movement and purpose. Town planning strategically positions certain plants, trees and various other features of the green environment in accordance to a scheme that does not disrupt human activity, thus providing pleasure and purpose to the flow of everyday life. Just like how the ocean nourishes and perishes its environment, the plants and the trees on the sidewalks of Redfern, while currently docile to their man-made surroundings, may eventually grow to overcome the design of man.    
 

 


Redfern Mural 

However, over the course of the twentieth century, ecocritical scholars generated significant debate over mankind’s attempts to classify, signify and constrain the natural world. This discourse actively resisted the traditional inclination of a plethora of human cultures to express themselves by invoking elements of the material world. By overturning the conventional impetus to decipher “inherently voiceless” environmental objects in accordance to what human societies intended them to mean, we can apprehend the curious and mysterious possibility of ‘the material’ to speak on its own terms. In his seminal 2001 text Thing Theory, University of Chicago academic Bill Brown pondered the capacity of the natural world to “speak back” vis-à-vis the human actions which attempt to shape it. Brown’s idea of a symbiotic relationship between human and non-human spheres is paralleled by traditional Australian Aboriginal perspectives of land. Indigenous societies preached a spiritual, physical and social connection between its members and the surrounding world, in which aspects of nature – from rocks to trees, rivers to hills – are essentially derived of the same substance as their human ancestors who continue to exist through the environment. A stark cry from the contemporary view of land as a product to be developed and commodified. For example, the Aboriginal Flag mural in The Block, Redfern reflects this worldview, through its close placement of the signifiers of black (the Aboriginal person), red (the land) and yellow (the sun), therefore positioning the human and the non-human as co-dependent entities.  

  


Recyclable aluminium 2018 

Garbage – cans, metal, single-use items – is of paramount importance to recycling and environmental maintenance. However, the process of disposal is often overlooked and trivialised in our contemporary global capitalist system built on commodification. It is important to focus on the natural life cycle of manageable metals, thereby conceiving these materials as part of nature, in which their man-made elements constitute new paradigms of what nature can be and is. For example, the chemical and compound nature present in aluminium tins which store everyday kitchen foods and carbonated drinks encapsulate a considerable portion of our daily human waste. While the sheer number of cans, metals and single-use items in the photo above demonstrate the “ugly”, discarded economic view of nature, they may simultaneously be perceived as the basis underpinning a marriage between the everyday human world of commerce, life and enterprise with the non-human world of chemical reactions, cells and life. We too are connected and affected by a mundane, discarded aluminium can, sitting in a pile of garbage. This allows for a brutal and dim portrait of nature, evoking the chaos of human organisation.
 

 

Plane view  2018 

 
The space in the sky, in which birds look down and ahead is a space inaccessible to humanity and presided over by airborne species. The view that our feathered friends enjoy everyday is commonly understood as a “bird’s eye view.” For us, the uncanny experience seems as if we are flying between worlds – the ground-world that feeds, nourishes and stabilises us, and the sky-world; the road of flying species. However, birds – just like humans – are confined in this earthly space, in the sense that if they were to travel further and further up, the oxygen would eventually not sustain them. The sky, the earth, water, air, land, places and spaces contain all forms of matter that connect us and everything until the boundaries of life are meshed and tied, formed and changed. The blue-greenness of everything is what the world as a whole bestows upon us: the further we zoom, the greater the two colours become a hybrid.



Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines,  Wikimedia commons 

I tried to find images from the last time I visited my family's country, when I was fourteen. We took many photographs but now the images are lost somewhere. It’s interesting remembering a time when I was so physically close to my ancestor's location on the home they built and the land they maintained. The rice terraces surrounding the high mountain northern part of the country is understood to be carved by hand for generations and demonstrate a useful irrigation system that utilised the rainforests above the terraces. For this corner of the world, a history of years and years of farming demonstrates a mark of human presence and harmony with the land and its resources. Rice is a staple food in which it is not just eaten but is also a part of the people's culture and life. Through the land I am connected to my ancestors and through the image I am connected to the memories of my experience. I understand that there is a point of origin that I am a part of and it is the earth, through which there is a kinship with my bloodline and the soil, as well as all its resources. Nature touches and remembers all of us – all our ancestors and our future families. We are connected by blood, places, and nourishment which is a form of nature, for natural time is not linear.  





Eiffel Tower

The relationship between the ground-world and the sky-world is an interesting one to consider. Human beings pride themselves on having effectively colonised the entire scope of the ground-world, transforming all its living things, creatures and elements into viable commercial objects for the sake of capitalist exchange. However, despite the inventions of planes and satellites, the sky-world remains a formidable and impenetrable terrain. For example, an important question to ask is if whether satellite views of the world are truly created by and for humans, or instead our perceived material, technological under-class (i.e., computer programs such as Google Earth). Photographs ‘made by and for us’ through such programs ironically promote the idea of the ‘human’ world we own as one purely created for image-taking by non-human, technological species. Furthermore, Bill Brown’s notion of material objects asserting their autonomous existence vis-à-vis human supremacy through the sky-world – such as being bopped on the head by a falling nut – articulates the sphere above us as an unpredictable threat. This notion gains deeper significance in tandem with a 2017 Harvard University study which proclaimed that a solar flare within the next 100 years could potentially cause a technological wipe-out – from the grid, to the internet – effectively returning our advanced, superior societies to the medieval or stone age period. Therefore, by identifying both all aspects of the world we live in – from the haptic elements that human beings can touch, as well as the uncertain,
 

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  1. Nature’s relationship with humanity has been at the forefront of much debate throughout historiography. Nature plays such an imperative role in understanding the differences and challenges that the outside world poses, using natures marginalised worlds as an ongoing representation of the differing relationships of certain practices, ethics, morals and or values. The underlying colour schematic of the proposed marginalised world, captured through an ironic small lens, focuses primarily on what is perceived at the centre of the picture rather the natural landscape, further from a marginalised point of view. The relationship between humanity and the marginalised world can be shown through the use of the natural landscape which adheres to the messages needed to be heard from all humanity. Nature and the marginalised world offer variances in perspectives towards many differing schools of thought, whether it be morally or ethical divided over time nature and marginalised worlds promote the very essence of right and wrong. Often nature can encapsulate the very ways in which an author wishes to enlighten a certain mood or even begin a conversation. Throughout the above pictures, that accompany such texts, they create a level of interest and intent based on the particular conversation. For example, the picture of the aboriginal flag and the text which companies it, go hand in hand. The relationship that nature has with this image provides responders with a view of contemporary landscapes but also sends the message that originally, it was in fact Aboriginal land. This strong message is exactly why art and nature are two factors which correspond with one another. 



     
  2. In the photos captured above, we see a glimpse of how humanity and nature function and exist in the world. The first photo displays the placement of nature along sidewalks to produce a sense of calmness and ecology within an urbanised space. We are also shown the great differences between the ground and the sky. On the ground, humanity holds the ability and potential to construct almost anything from buildings, to farms to rubbish dumps. On the other hand, the sky is presented as an infinite space, almost unblemished by humans. Only through manmade creations such as plane and buildings such as the Eiffel Tower, we can come to the realisation that humanity's footprint is but a speck within the realms of the sky.
  3. When looking closely at the pictures above and the descriptions, I was reminded of Timothy Moreton’s idea of Ecomimesis. With the close attention to place over subjectivity, the images evoked the situatedness of the image. A prime example of this is the first image of the streets of Redfern in which the element of the medial is used to focus on the foreground rather than the background. It is evident that the street is mainly concealed with moss, bushes, trees, and dirt. However, amongst nature humanity creates shelter, cars, and pathways using the earth’s materials. By seeing the clear relationship of humanity and nature, a harmonious image is generated.
  4. In the modern world where we begin to become increasingly disorientated with our surroundings, it only takes a brief moment of repositioning yourself among the midst of technological chaos to reconnect with nature. By returning back to the basics such as from the simple routine of rising when the sun is up illustrates the traditional 'in syncness' between nature and humans. The images serves as a humble reminder to reconnect with our earthy neighbours whether it be the soil our plants prosper from, the rain that nourishes the cracked plain or the wind that travels across large spatial dimensions to touch a single leaf.
  5. These images above are a representation of our relationship and connection to nature. The first image of the sidewalk in Redfern highlights how, although we have this man-made pavement and buildings, nature always surrounds us. The overarching leaves and twisted branches within view show how we are always connected to nature. The man-made and nature existing within an image conveys a harmonious coexistence between the two, portraying the ebb and flow of life, growth and regeneration - the cycle of life. This is similarly shown in the plane view and satellite image of the Eiffel Tower however, nature mainly occupies this space and man-made elements are merely just a speck in comparison. This incites one to consider how nature has existed since time immemorial and has actually provided us with the tools to build man-made structures seen in the images.
  6. The colours that are used in the marginal worlds as a representation of links, meaning relationships between two or more things. Seeing how everything works together, separately and as a collective. The more the image before you is zoomed out, the focus becomes shifted on how relatively small these things are to realise how big the world and the universe is. Representing how if we focus solely on the things in our direct line of vision we miss out on seeing the most beautiful things a little bit further away. There is so much more to the universe than meets the eye, but it can always be hard to capture in the moment. Which is why photographs are such a good way to remember places we want to remember, or think about or write about later. These images are a representation of the places people have once or will make connections.
  7. These images awaken a certain sense of consciousness. A realisation of the self. In particular, the ‘plane view’ image gives insight into how microscopic we are in the totality of Mother Nature. Through this bird's eye view shot, we can see what the bird sees. The bird looks down, it sees us. We look up, we see the bird. A friendly exchange where human and nature become one. A time where any hierarchies are vanquished. The image captures a gradient in the sky, where the colours blend from a deep blue to light blue, to white, and back to a light blue. These layers represent how closely the facets of our world are all connected. The question at hand is, can humans truly capture the natural world via photography? Looking at these images, I believe they visually portray the natural world, allowing us to see the world through a certain lens. They remind us to appreciate its beauty and capabilities. However, a photo cannot encapsulate the internal sensation when bodily amidst the natural world. Indulging Nature is a spiritual experience which often charms our senses.
  8. Sitting with ‘Streets of Redfern’, I consider the stone steps, wooden doors, and earthly ingredients making up the cement. I consider how every part of these homes, even the synthetic elements, were, at one-point, earthly ingredients. These houses then, might, to an inhuman observer of human habitats, be seen as simply complex counterparts to gorilla nests and termite mounds. Similarly, the nature-strip is not as natural as it first appeared. Just as the homes were planned and constructed, so too was the nature-strip; the tree is tended to and pruned, the soil is weeded, the woodchip scattered wild then swept back into its boundary. Now, both homes and nature-strip unfurl to reveal their respective centres: the natural within the human, the human within the natural. Both sides of the image turned liminal, simultaneously of humanity and nature, simultaneously dead and living, occupying an endless no-space one might call, “humanature”.

    [Toby Francis - z5342546]
  9. I find it very interesting how we can find a connection between humans and nature through a processed items like aluminium. We can see it as a way in which we attempt to sustain the world by creating recyclable materials, and that having a finite amount of resources is an obvious problem which should be very easy for everyone to see. What is hidden is how much closer our created recyclable goods are to nature than it seems at first. We can think of the natural life cycles of such materials the process in which the natural overtime changes and moulds itself. We can also see the drastic effects that humans have upon the natural world. Aluminium is used in many daily single-use items, whereby a large amount of waste is created, if we do no carefully and effectively get rid of it. It is up to us to use the products of nature and to decide whether we use it correctly or not.


     

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