A Meditation on Humanity's Impact on the Destiny of our Planet

Sara Nicomedi uses several photographic techniques to reflect upon the power that simple everyday actions have on our everyday life and how they will affect the future generations.

Sara Nicomedi uses several photographic techniques to reflect upon the power that simple everyday actions have on our everyday life and how they will affect the future generations.

Extinction is a project that I started in 2017 as a reflection on the future of the human species on Earth. We are currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction, two hundred species disappear every day. The last United Nations summit on climate change stated that we have eleven years left to avoid the catastrophe by keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees.

Such awareness has led me to question my choice to become a mother in a world that I can't see lasting. Through this project, I analyse myself as memories resurface and I reflect on the strength of life and on the deepest sense of existence. Extinction recounts three generations: that of my grandmother, who lived in conjunction with what is considered to have marked the beginning of the great acceleration of our era called the Anthropocene, then that of my parents and down to today.

Through the use of representative images, self-portraits, documentary photos, archives, and collages, I analyse the relationship that exists between the past and the present, our actions today and their possible impact on future generations. I aim to emphasise that this is the time to rebuild awareness on our actual needs, what kind of future we want on the Earth, and how to act accordingly.

Can we transform the current climate and social crisis into something useful for the restoration of empathy among human beings and hence, allow ourselves to evolve on a spiritual and emotional level?

Words and Pictures by Sara Nicomedi.

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Sara Nicomedi is an Italian visual storyteller based in London. She currently employs the medium to explore themes related to the current ecological and social crisis. Find her on PHmuseum and Instagram.

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This feature is part of Story of the Week, a selection of relevant projects from our community handpicked by the PHmuseum curators.