The city of Las Vegas creates a fascinating juxtaposition between the stylized and fantastical architecture of the iconic Las Vegas Strip, and the unique geography of the surrounding Mojave Desert. When I look at pictures of the Las Vegas strip, with its buildings that are facsimiles of architectural styles from vastly different times and places, these overlapping buildings have always felt more like a collage than an actual city street. In relation to the 150 million year old sandstone formations in the desert encompassing the city and the remnants of a prehistoric ocean floor, these buildings seem even further displaced from space and time.
Throughout my time as an artist in residence at Rogers Art Loft, I made a series of photographic collages, overlaying recognizable elements from the Las Vegas strip with prototypical elements of the Mojave Desert to create architectural interventions in harmony with nature. The photographic prints were made on fabric using light sensitive dyes that are then transferred, drawn on, discharged, and collaged to create these surrealist landscapes. Some images appear repeatedly throughout individual collages and the series as a whole, meant to evoke the feeling of an echo and a sense of time passing. Many of them borrow from the look of old photographs, using sepia tones and appearing colorized in places, to reiterate a sense displacement in time, as though looking at vintage photographs of the future.
Studies have shown that being in nature is good for our psychological health, as though being made aware of our own insignificance gives us the perspective we need to deal with the stress of modern life. Ironically, modern life is causing people to become increasingly removed from nature, contributing to higher levels of stress and mental health problems while we are also being confronted with the impact our actions are having on the natural environment. These images are my way of processing these conflicting outcomes. They are intentionally ambiguous: do they represent a dystopia where the city is disintegrating and humanity sits on the edge of extinction, or a utopia where we have found a way to restore a much needed balance?
Throughout my time as an artist in residence at Rogers Art Loft, I made a series of photographic collages, overlaying recognizable elements from the Las Vegas strip with prototypical elements of the Mojave Desert to create architectural interventions in harmony with nature. The photographic prints were made on fabric using light sensitive dyes that are then transferred, drawn on, discharged, and collaged to create these surrealist landscapes. Some images appear repeatedly throughout individual collages and the series as a whole, meant to evoke the feeling of an echo and a sense of time passing. Many of them borrow from the look of old photographs, using sepia tones and appearing colorized in places, to reiterate a sense displacement in time, as though looking at vintage photographs of the future.
Studies have shown that being in nature is good for our psychological health, as though being made aware of our own insignificance gives us the perspective we need to deal with the stress of modern life. Ironically, modern life is causing people to become increasingly removed from nature, contributing to higher levels of stress and mental health problems while we are also being confronted with the impact our actions are having on the natural environment. These images are my way of processing these conflicting outcomes. They are intentionally ambiguous: do they represent a dystopia where the city is disintegrating and humanity sits on the edge of extinction, or a utopia where we have found a way to restore a much needed balance?
