Just over twenty years ago, scientists introduced the term Anthropocene to denote a new geological epoch marked by human activity. Comprised of forty-four photo-based artists working in a variety of artistic methods from studios and sites across the globe, Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene explores the complexities of this proposed new age: vanishing ice, rising waters, and increasing resource extraction, as well as the deeply rooted and painful legacies of colonialism, forced climate migration, and socio-environmental trauma.
Since its emergence, the term “Anthropocene” has entered the common lexicon and has been adopted by disciplines outside of the sciences including philosophy, economics, sociology, geography, and anthropology, effectively linking the Anthropocene to nearly every aspect of post-industrial life. Organized around four thematic sections, “Reconfiguring Nature,” “Toxic Sublime,” “Inhumane Geographies,” and “Envisioning Tomorrow,” the exhibition proposes that the Anthropocene is not one singular narrative, but rather a diverse and complex web of relationships between and among humanity, industry, and ecology—the depths and effects of which are continually being discovered.
Artists include: Sammy Baloji, Adrián Balseca, Matthew Brandt, Edward Burtynsky, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, James Casebere, João Castilho, Elena Damiani, Gohar Dashti, Sanne De Wilde, Andrew Esiebo, Gauri Gill, Noémie Goudal, Todd Gray, Acacia Johnson, Mouna Karray, Robert Kautuk, Zhang Kechun, Rosemary Laing, Sze Tsung Nicolás Leong, Anna Líndal, Inka Lindergård and Niclas Lindergård, Pablo López Luz, Dhruv Malhotra, Laura McPhee, Gideon Mendel, Hayley Millar Baker, Joiri Minaya, Aïda Muluneh, Léonard Pongo, Meghann Riepenhoff, Cara Romero, Anastasia Samoylova, Camille Seaman, David Benjamin Sherry, Toshio Shibata, Sim Chi Yin, Thomas Struth, Danila Tkachenko, Rajesh Vangad, Letha Wilson, Will Wilson, Yang Yongliang.
Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene is organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, The Trustees of Reservations, Lincoln, Massachusetts. The exhibition is curated by Jessica May, Executive Director, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, and Marshall N. Price, Chief Curator and Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
The Cantor Arts Center presentation is curated by Maggie Dethloff, Assistant Curator of Photography and New Media.
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