Our Nature
24 in x 20 in
Giclee prints
2007

The relationship that we have with ‘the natural’ is lifelong in that the activities we engage in tie us directly to nature – birth, growth, decay, death. The wilderness can evoke simultaneously, a sense of wonder, and anxiety in us. It is a domain that is both a part of ourselves and a separate entity. Nature also creates a conflict in many of our lives – one that challenges us to find our place within it, all the while leaving us with the feeling that we can never be fully at home in it.

With this body of work, I sought to photograph the people-place relationship that we have with nature. The individuals, going about with everyday activities, have been rendered to small forms within the environment, so as to emphasize the immensity of the spaces they stand in. Moreover, I wanted the blurriness of the scenic backgrounds to recall art history depictions of landscape, in which the painterly technique created forms through colour and tone instead of with distinct contours and lines. My interest is not on the surroundings specifically, but more on how our bodies take up space in the natural world. Viewed from afar, many of the individuals portrayed in my photographs have been reduced to simple faceless shapes – specks within the vastness of the landscapes.