Solastalgia and Smog
I find the intersection of air pollution and photography an interesting site to examine and dissect the changing natural landscapes of the world. As much of Australia has become aware in recent summers, bushfires significantly contribute to the worsening of smog, the combination of smoke and fog. The Black Summer bushfires of 2019 to 2020, created a visible but seemingly intangible backdrop of dread and alarm. In looking back on personal photos of my daily life, I can easily identify those taken during the Black Summer, merely from the smog that consumes everything in the photograph. There is a sepia tone to all of them - a subtle hush of ochre, a dreaded dim of tango. There is an aesthetic nostalgia to these photographs. Upon first viewing, and without any contextual knowledge, Chris Barron's photograph scratched this very same feeling. This concept of nostalgia, a 'wistful yearning for the past,' is extended into Glenn Albrecht's theory of 'solastalgia.' 'Solastalgia is a type of mental pain that arises when home is irreparably changed by the subtle indexations of the climate.' (Rebecca Giggs, 'The Australian Fruit Salad', 2015) It is described as a 'pyschoterratic state,' a term that describes emotions that people feel in relationship to the earth. I wonder how many photographs are now met with feelings of solastalgia, rather than nostalgia. This convergence of climate change, psychoanalytic theory and photography, has become an interesting departure point to explore eco-emotions.