DESCRIPTION:
Anthropogenic Atmosphere: Climate Canary, Furious Calm, Civil Twilight
2016
Series of three prints on silk
70 cm x 70 cm each
This series explores our current picture of Earth’s Anthropogenic Atmosphere in which the natural and artificial have become inextricably linked to form a new type of super ecology. Caused by accumulated human activity, the appearance of Noctilucent and Nacreous clouds act as a sensitive guide to changes in the polar stratosphere and upper atmosphere. Read from left to right the series of silk prints use lenses and prisms to look deeper into nature’s early warning system to find markers of change.
The first silk Climate Canary, makes visible the appearance Noctiluecnt clouds on the horizon. Increasing in brightness and frequency these clouds have been dubbed the climate canary of super ecology’s early warning system; signaling the presence of water and methane in the upper atmosphere influencing climate change.
The second silk Furious Calm, uses a three dimensional prism to bring to life a research satellite’s compositional reading of the beautiful and violent chemical reactions crystalizing in the atmosphere when Noctilucent and Nacreous clouds are present.
The final silk in the series Civil Twilight uses an optical refraction lens to mark the presence of Nacreous mother of pearl clouds in the stratosphere. Implicated in the formation of ozone holes, these aesthetically seductive and lethal clouds become visible at civil twilight when the geometric center of the sun is 0°50? - 6° below the horizon. Their radiant iridescence reflects a rainbow of light across the earth as they eat the ozone above.
In Anthropogenic Atmosphere the motion of our body while orbiting the works mimics a research satellite surveying a selected path. We are given a ‘fly-by’ glimpse into the super ecological markers that signify the presence of human activity in the atmosphere.
Subverting the tradition use of silk to opulently adorn the body and home, the material is used to highlight the alluring aesthetic of these foreboding ecological phenomena that persuade us to take a longer look into the sky at twilight and contemplate the forecast for tomorrow’s changing weather.
