A continuation of my ongoing analysis of American spectacle, Naturescapes looks closely at the simulations and simulacra of the natural world. I am motivated by the question of our changing relationship with nature that privileges the artificial over the real. To that end, I photograph the commercialization, packaging, and sale of the natural world, as those activities tread the diminishing line between the real environment and that of our own production.
My work explores these simulations of nature and the desires that motivate them. Rather than photographing landscapes, I seek out anti-landscapes. In place of flora and fauna, I find lush and artificial jungles we have contained and sold or simulated as representations of our imagined environment. We have created our own naturescapes, surreal natural scenes and mass produced objects that can be bought and sold. Ironically, our desire for nature is now mediated through simulacra, and it is arguably simulacra that we desire: rows upon rows of fake flowers in department stores, bright, glossy advertisements and other imagery for sale, fabricated lawns and fauna for our front yards. The distinction between what is real and what is fake is obfuscated in my photographs as it is in reality. The oxymoron of artificial nature, and our psychological desires that demand it, provide the impetus for my work.
My work explores these simulations of nature and the desires that motivate them. Rather than photographing landscapes, I seek out anti-landscapes. In place of flora and fauna, I find lush and artificial jungles we have contained and sold or simulated as representations of our imagined environment. We have created our own naturescapes, surreal natural scenes and mass produced objects that can be bought and sold. Ironically, our desire for nature is now mediated through simulacra, and it is arguably simulacra that we desire: rows upon rows of fake flowers in department stores, bright, glossy advertisements and other imagery for sale, fabricated lawns and fauna for our front yards. The distinction between what is real and what is fake is obfuscated in my photographs as it is in reality. The oxymoron of artificial nature, and our psychological desires that demand it, provide the impetus for my work.