What Remains

The world is experiencing an extraordinary loss of species, habitat, ecological connectivity, and personal connectedness to the natural world, as well as a shift in habitat from the natural to the artificial and toxic environment.

Certain patterns repeat themselves in various biospheric forms and phenomena that have been similar in function and form since the beginning. In the cyclic repetition of the natural, life reappears at the end, but that which has been irretrievably destroyed remains lifeless, that which has been poisoned toxic and thus hostile to life.

This time of destruction and loss, the sixth man-made mass extinction, generates fears and above all mourning for what is irrevocably lost, for diversity and life.

The flowers and insects from my childhood memories have disappeared, my favorite tree has been lumbered, the heat is almost unbearable, the air suffocating, nature has degenerated into an agricultural landscape. To deal with this in everyday life, comfort lies in the cyclical emergence of life, in the intelligence of all life forms, in discovering the beauty of this intelligence: fungi that can regenerate toxic soils, or bacteria and enzymes that decompose plastic. The oldest life forms both in and on the earth, and in water and air, are also the most viable, manifesting themselves in the most unexpected places, penetrating, asserting themselves and decomposing, generating new life.

In my wanderings, I find signs, clues, the unexpected, the depressing, and the hopeful.

These photos serve as a record of what once was, how and why it was destroyed and archived, what remains, survives, and possibly heals under the circumstances.