Strangeland

considering wilderness

“This two-person exhibition provides a unique bicoastal perspective considering the definitions of wilderness within our modern age and how these are being impacted by human activity. Karen Antonelli's work proposes that Wilderness, rather than being distant and unexplored, resides amidst us in pockets of neglect where Nature's unsanctioned activity takes place.

Antonelli writes: ‘My work looks at marginal places in the urban environment that are at the edges of our public attention. These contingent places are not the main events of our cities; we are aware of their existence, behind the scenes so to speak, but they fall through gaps in our attention as we drive from one destination to another. I am compelled to make photographs of them because I see them as inadvertent landscapes created by default, rather than by design, that are worthy of contemplation. Exploring their state of neglect or transition with my camera, I discern evidence of the structure of human thought; and it is in these places that I think about the nature of Wilderness.’

Portland, Oregon artist and environmentalist Ryan Burns creates experimental prints using the rubbings of old growth tree stumps on waste paper as the basis for further drawings and collage. Burn's work simultaneously documents the disappearance of old growth forests while encouraging the viewer to rethink how one relates to and interacts with the precious commodity of our natural environment.”