What is Anthropocene ?
The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.
How and why are photographers exploring this concept?
The time many people refer to as “Anthropocene”. Humans have become the single most influential species on the planet, causing significant global warming and other changes to land, environment, water, organisms and the atmosphere. The world is getting progressively more polluted so photographers are trying to raise awareness about this issue.
Mandy barker
Mandy Barker is an international award-winning photographic artist whose work involving plastic debris in oceans for more than 13 years. Working with scientists she aims to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, highlighting the harmful affect on marine life, climate change and ultimately ourselves – leading the viewer to take action. her work has been published in over 50 different countries to illustrate key academic and scientific research papers about current plastic research.
Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer and artist known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. He works in places around the world that represent the increasing development of industrialization and its impacts on nature and the human existence. His work often connected to the concept of sublime.
“We come from nature. There is an importance to [having] a certain reverence for what nature is because we are connected to it… If we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves” – Edward Burtynsky
Both Artists have similarities and differences in their style of work. Mandy barker focuses on collecting plastic waste and laying them out to give them a sense of characteristic and beauty but also aims to spread awareness about the severity of todays pollution. Where as Edward Burtynsky takes photos of the more overall view of pollution and how it is manipulating our surroundings and our lifestyle. His style of art work gives the world a more dystopian look.