In this ongoing project, Wasteland Ecology, I explore malleable landscapes as they shape around the sites of industrial and old toxic zones. The vegetation, as it follows the disruptions of the landscape, reveals unplanned ecological restoration. The land shifts over time and new life emerges, sitting parallel to the traces of human activity.
I am interested in the inter-dependent relationships between nature and the human experience, and focus on these specific sites to show nature ruptured, yet quietly sustaining. This landscape presents a coexistence of composed beauty alongside the ruined land.
These are sites that reside at the margins, defined as ‘edgeland’ places. The term ‘edgeland’ coined by environmentalist Marion Shoard, describes the “apparently unplanned, certainly uncelebrated, and largely incomprehensible territory”. At this blurry edge, natural growth merges with the residue of human activity; built artifacts are eroded until they might no longer be called man-made. This territory Shoard determines, is the space where most environmental change occurs. I am particularly curious about this shifting space and search for sites that reveal a certain underlying strength and perseverance. These are environments which exist, even thrive at the edgeland space, maintaining ecological life in spite of human intervention.
These photographs are intended to be both seductive and unsettling, alluding to traditional landscapes with glorious vistas and an open sense of promise. However, in contrast to any clear or direct optimism, I am presenting a layered and claustrophobic depiction - one that considers perceptions of space and perceptions of complicated relationships with our surroundings. Unlike romantic notions of preservation, which serve to uphold an illusion of human domination over nature, these landscapes express the sometimes contradictory and sometimes symbiotic relationship humans and the natural environment maintain.
