Powerful stuff! A few posts back, I wrote this in relation to the idea of the "toxic sublime" -- turning ecological disaster into art:
"I don’t want to get deported from Substack for saying this, but I firmly believe climate change offers photographers opportunities that would not otherwise be presented to us. The world is changing before our very eyes, and we have more choices than to simply document those changes. The only question is whether we want to or not — not a small question to consider."
I'm of course heart broken over your story, but your photos are imperative. Some close in on the idea of the "sublime". Your unflinching captures are necessary to share. 👊
Edward Burtynsky is incredible, but I wonder why I. am unmoved to act after seeing such images. It is sad that I needed to have it in front of me to feel it viscerally and try to convey in a world saturated with dystopian images. Glad they resonated — I think we all have a duty to be unflinching!
We each respond according to our dna and upbringing and... well, you get it. I thought the image of the young immigrant child drowned on the banks of the Rio Grande many months ago would have led to an end of our anti immigration horror here in US, but it's only gotten worse. Sontag said it 5 decades ago, that the over saturation of images of pain and destruction had dumbed/numbed us to inaction. That was 50 years in human years ago. I suppose a photo, if it causes one mind to sway toward action, is worth taking. In my mind, I've come to conclude that the photo I may take in response to something like the destruction you captured has little to do with anyone but me. If I take it, it's because I need to take it. That's reason enough. Anything else is gravy.
These are very powerful photographs Neil, and your essay too. The melted cash register is so suggestive both of inescapable capitalism and of modest lives devastated.
This is hard to look at. Almost like a war zone, which I guess on some level it is. The horse has left the barn, the question is: can we save the barn?
It’s getting easier to imagine a techno-fascist future. We may end up looking back on neoliberalism as the golden years. Your pictures look like stills from a science fiction epic.
Powerful stuff! A few posts back, I wrote this in relation to the idea of the "toxic sublime" -- turning ecological disaster into art:
"I don’t want to get deported from Substack for saying this, but I firmly believe climate change offers photographers opportunities that would not otherwise be presented to us. The world is changing before our very eyes, and we have more choices than to simply document those changes. The only question is whether we want to or not — not a small question to consider."
I'm of course heart broken over your story, but your photos are imperative. Some close in on the idea of the "sublime". Your unflinching captures are necessary to share. 👊
Great post on the Toxic Sublime.
Edward Burtynsky is incredible, but I wonder why I. am unmoved to act after seeing such images. It is sad that I needed to have it in front of me to feel it viscerally and try to convey in a world saturated with dystopian images. Glad they resonated — I think we all have a duty to be unflinching!
We each respond according to our dna and upbringing and... well, you get it. I thought the image of the young immigrant child drowned on the banks of the Rio Grande many months ago would have led to an end of our anti immigration horror here in US, but it's only gotten worse. Sontag said it 5 decades ago, that the over saturation of images of pain and destruction had dumbed/numbed us to inaction. That was 50 years in human years ago. I suppose a photo, if it causes one mind to sway toward action, is worth taking. In my mind, I've come to conclude that the photo I may take in response to something like the destruction you captured has little to do with anyone but me. If I take it, it's because I need to take it. That's reason enough. Anything else is gravy.
These are very powerful photographs Neil, and your essay too. The melted cash register is so suggestive both of inescapable capitalism and of modest lives devastated.
Thanks so much!
Heart-breaking and devastating scenes, yet nature shows us those green shoots of renewal... the question is whether we can too.
This is hard to look at. Almost like a war zone, which I guess on some level it is. The horse has left the barn, the question is: can we save the barn?
I hope so! I’m going to read this next https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462676/clearing-the-air-by-ritchie-hannah/9781529939415
Yet life persists....
Powerful and devastating photographs!
Thank you, Manuela. It was tricky to convey the mixed feelings of hope and despair, but glad it resonated.
Powerful set of photographs Neil. It breaks home the aftermath of such devastating events.
Thanks Neil. It did make me realise how numb I often am to such images, seeing it in person made a difference. I was going to mention this, which doesn’t really scale https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/oct/13/william-shatner-jeff-bezos-rocket-blue-origin
It’s getting easier to imagine a techno-fascist future. We may end up looking back on neoliberalism as the golden years. Your pictures look like stills from a science fiction epic.