Unmoored

Mel Chin, American, born 1951

Unmoored, 2018

In Mel Chin’s Unmoored, New York City’s Times Square is seen from rising tides with ships floating above and plankton and other microscopic life swimming about. Through virtual reality, individuals get a sense for what New York City would look like if ice continues to melt from the use of fossil fuels. Mel Chin found that studies have revealed that the use of technology has decreased people’s empathy. In change, Mel Chin wanted this work of art to give empathy through technology instead of taking it away. Overall, the goal of this work is to have more people become aware of the urgency of climate change and its deeply devastating impacts through a method not normally known for doing so. Label by Callie Sties

Caribou Tracks on Coal Seams II

Subhankar Banerjee, American, born 1967

Caribou Tracks on Coal Seams II, 2006

Subhankar Banerjee is a photographer and environmental activist whose work depicts the traditional lifeways and ecology of endangered species and vulnerable populations. His works demonstrate the disruption from climate change and oil prospecting on animal behaviors and native peoples’ traditional, sustainable lifestyles. This photograph and its accompanying caption (a key element of Banerjee’s work) vividly demonstrate how environmentally harmful practices like coal mining disturb and destruct important natural processes like caribou migration. The centuries-long activities of these animals, who are vital to indigenous peoples, are visually upset by the aggressive reds and oranges caused by seam fire. The colorful intrusions indicate imminent environmental doom once the resource is tapped and visually signal danger. Label by Tori Erisman

Infinity Pod

Darren Sarkin, American

Infinity Pod, 2018

Even though climate disaster does lend itself to photography as a means of aesthetic documentation, I remember Darren Sarkin’s installations made up of damaged, charred wood from wildfires that hit California years ago. Sarkin carves the wood to his liking, adds lights and other shards of recycled glass to create pieces that are able to glow again, this time without threatening people or property. Here, a woman sits inside his Infinity Pod, a small structure made up of the repurposed wood, mirrors, and LED lights that set a different kind of fire to the scorched raw material. In some regards, using burnt wood for artistic purposes can be understood as doing little to address climate struggles that ultimately brought the piece to life, but I think there is something to be said about breathing a new kind of life back into them, immersing viewers in an interactive experience that condenses grief of what is lost and hope for what may come. Label by Kristin Rheins

State of Exception

Jason de León, American, born 1977

State of Exception, 2019

This image is from an exhibition by Jason de León, an anthropologist who studies migration between the US and Mexico. He uses archaeology, ethnography, forensics, photography, and art to better understand this migration crisis. Much of his work focuses on the specific 1993 immigration enforcement policy of “Prevention through Deterrence” which aims to route migration through the desert rather than stop it, in the hopes that dangerous terrain and conditions will deter would-be migrants. This policy inherently assumes that migrants' lives are expendable. De León studies both the death toll of this journey, and also the belongings that get left behind in the desert. One example are ‘migrant stations,’ collections of personal belongings that have been left behind, which can be too large to analyze. Label by Savannah Singleton