I realized a long time ago (in college) that the desire to conserve the Earth, at its root, comes from a deep love of humanity. For the Earth is a giant ball of molten rock hurtling through space, and could simply shrug or sneeze and humanity would be extinct. To practice environmental conservation then is to practice human conservation, to conserve the environment that allows humans to flourish.

For a sense of history I am inspired by an 18th-century explorer’s words in the book Travels (1791) by William Bartram. Informed by Bartram, I have attempted to create a photographic record of today’s landscape, particularly how it intersects with Bartram’s landscape, how that changed, and how it remained the same. To my amazement I was able to find many of the plants, creatures, cities, and waters Bartram described.

To intuit possibilities for the future, I have designed Possible Perceptions, each a piece of art to aid in divination and meditation, a piece that puts the subject matter of a photograph in a whole new light. I intend to create feelings of awe and wonder in the viewers as they gaze on this artwork, which invites them to see a facet of the environment anew. Portals the Exhibit is comprised of these Possible Perceptions.