| ecology art gallery |
all photos and text copyrighted C. Chadwick 2007
| click on image to select gallery to visit |
| wired nation 'a terrible beauty' |
| beautiful destruction 'a terrible beauty' |
Returning to the scene of the crime is a series of art photographs that focus on the
fragile ecosystems that are at this writing being hit by the devastating BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill. As with
all my ecology photographs, I attempt to create a photograph with a beauty that clashes jarringly with
the photograph's underlying message. I visited Dauphin Island, AL in the first few days after the slicks
from the BP oil spill breached its beaches. My focus in the photographs was to capture the natural
beauty of the saltwater marshes on and near Dauphin Island, a sense of the fragility of those
ecosystems, and the innocence of the birds in these habitats, so completely unaware of the signs of
danger that surround them as the BP oil spill silently invades their living spaces and the BP clean up
crews follow in the oil's wake. I hope to have the opportunity to expand this series to include other
areas impacted by the BP oil spill.
The last image to appear in the Dauphin Island BP oil spill installment will be the title photo "returning
to the scene of the crime." At that time, the title and how it relates to the BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill will be
revealed...and it may not be what you think!
Wired Nation is a series of ecology art photographs that depict America's addiction to electricity,
fossil fuels, and all things technical.
This ecology art gallery is subtitled 'terrible beauty' because many of our inventions--and even the
suspended wires that weave a dense web of connectivity across America--have a sort of beauty when
viewed in isolation. Viewed collectively, however, the tableau is a terrible one.
Our electrical wires and transformers and our technical gadgets when viewed singly often display a
wonderfully orchestrated symmetry of lines and curves. When seen collectively, however, the beauty
disappears. The landscape is choked with wires strung through the air and pocked with landfills filled
with yesterday's latest techno marvels.
This ecology art series draws the viewer into the photograph through the surprising beauty found
within the isolated technological object. As with the series Beautiful Destruction, the hope is that the
viewer will then question, "Why this subject? Why did the photographer chose to photograph this?"
Within the answers to that question lie the beginnings of ecology education: awareness of our own
destructive habits.
Beautiful Destruction is a series of ecology art photographs that depict America's addiction to
new construction.
Europeans think nothing of living and shopping in buildings that are centuries old. Americans, by
contrast start viewing houses, stores and even public buildings as 'old' or 'dated' merely twenty years
after construction.
When we stop at the convenience store, we look for the newest, most spacious one we can find. We
decry the land developers who strip the woods from the land, then search in the newest subdivision for
our new home and rave about the 'cool factor' of the newest mall in our city. We rail against high
tuitions at colleges, then point with pride to the new building on campus of our alma mater--a building
that replaced its thirty-year-old predecessor, which was leveled for the new building.
This ecology art series draws the viewer into the photograph by presenting the subject matter of
rampant construction through a surprisingly artistic angle. The viewer is surprised to find beauty in the
subject of construction--notorious for its ugliness. As with the series Wired Nation, the hope is that
the viewer will then question, "Why this subject? Why did the photographer chose to photograph this?"
Within the answers to that question lie the beginnings of ecology education: awareness of our own
destructive habits.
fragile ecosystems that are at this writing being hit by the devastating BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill. As with
all my ecology photographs, I attempt to create a photograph with a beauty that clashes jarringly with
the photograph's underlying message. I visited Dauphin Island, AL in the first few days after the slicks
from the BP oil spill breached its beaches. My focus in the photographs was to capture the natural
beauty of the saltwater marshes on and near Dauphin Island, a sense of the fragility of those
ecosystems, and the innocence of the birds in these habitats, so completely unaware of the signs of
danger that surround them as the BP oil spill silently invades their living spaces and the BP clean up
crews follow in the oil's wake. I hope to have the opportunity to expand this series to include other
areas impacted by the BP oil spill.
The last image to appear in the Dauphin Island BP oil spill installment will be the title photo "returning
to the scene of the crime." At that time, the title and how it relates to the BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill will be
revealed...and it may not be what you think!
Wired Nation is a series of ecology art photographs that depict America's addiction to electricity,
fossil fuels, and all things technical.
This ecology art gallery is subtitled 'terrible beauty' because many of our inventions--and even the
suspended wires that weave a dense web of connectivity across America--have a sort of beauty when
viewed in isolation. Viewed collectively, however, the tableau is a terrible one.
Our electrical wires and transformers and our technical gadgets when viewed singly often display a
wonderfully orchestrated symmetry of lines and curves. When seen collectively, however, the beauty
disappears. The landscape is choked with wires strung through the air and pocked with landfills filled
with yesterday's latest techno marvels.
This ecology art series draws the viewer into the photograph through the surprising beauty found
within the isolated technological object. As with the series Beautiful Destruction, the hope is that the
viewer will then question, "Why this subject? Why did the photographer chose to photograph this?"
Within the answers to that question lie the beginnings of ecology education: awareness of our own
destructive habits.
Beautiful Destruction is a series of ecology art photographs that depict America's addiction to
new construction.
Europeans think nothing of living and shopping in buildings that are centuries old. Americans, by
contrast start viewing houses, stores and even public buildings as 'old' or 'dated' merely twenty years
after construction.
When we stop at the convenience store, we look for the newest, most spacious one we can find. We
decry the land developers who strip the woods from the land, then search in the newest subdivision for
our new home and rave about the 'cool factor' of the newest mall in our city. We rail against high
tuitions at colleges, then point with pride to the new building on campus of our alma mater--a building
that replaced its thirty-year-old predecessor, which was leveled for the new building.
This ecology art series draws the viewer into the photograph by presenting the subject matter of
rampant construction through a surprisingly artistic angle. The viewer is surprised to find beauty in the
subject of construction--notorious for its ugliness. As with the series Wired Nation, the hope is that
the viewer will then question, "Why this subject? Why did the photographer chose to photograph this?"
Within the answers to that question lie the beginnings of ecology education: awareness of our own
destructive habits.
| filthy pigs 'a failure to steward' |
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| returning to the scene of the crime: the BP oil spill |