A Sparrow on the Floor of a Cathedral

A Sparrow on the Floor of the Cathedral (ASFC) immerses the viewer beneath the ocean’s surface, looking up through the water column into the virtuosity of natures’ cathedral. Similar to the United States Geological Surveys (USGS) documentary landscape photographs of the nineteenth century, these marine environments call attention to latent possibilities; be they massive, sublime and/or vulnerable to human impact, each articulation expresses a delicate balance of volume, space and adornment. These aquatic environments, like the West, host natural resources which humans have or are actively extracting. Owing to their relative anonymity and inaccessibility, these frontiers have been portrayed as “romantic”, mythical and untouched wildernesses. The mission of geological surveys included gathering information, data and photographs to encourage railroads, mining and tourism. It is in the geologic features that the history of the earth is inscribed: its age, its species, their evolutions and extinctions, its catastrophes, erosions and formations. Like the USGS documentation, the description of each photograph included in ASFC contain essential data related to the experience of its creation: such as time, date, location and specific geological formations. I share these details first to spread wonder because knowledge and empathy transform wonder into curiosity. Secondly, to foster awareness of the intricate and inextricable link between the quality of water and what lives within it.