Vespers of the Post-Anthropocene

These are Vespers of the Post-Anthropocene, an imagined world where humans are no longer the dominant species on the planet. This is a time after climate catastrophe, when peak oil and peak water have occurred, when the temperature limit of 2.5 degrees had been breached long ago. In these series of drawings, I explore various biological entities and the scenes they inhabit: what is the legacy of man, in spite of our diminished presence? What customs still exist? How do we continue to influence the earth?

On my walks through Marin County, I’ve come to develop a deep respect and intimacy with the land that I live on. It has become obvious to me that we are in the midst of a great evolution due to climate change.

Each drawing is inspired by an observation in nature, and is accompanied with a narrative explaining its future reality. I see these pieces as small vignettes of our Post-Anthropocene.

While the current rhetoric is spent either catastrophizing or denying, my interest is in illustrating small mundane moments of life, whether they will exist in the future or not. I recall listening to an interview with Siiam Hamilton, an activist on the front lines of land and water protection in Canada. She described how as a culture, we are capable of imagining the most detailed future scenarios if a zombie apocalypse were to occur, and yet, we can’t even think of a future absent of extraction.

It got me thinking a lot more about a more reciprocal relationship to earth, but more so, to truly believe that climate catastrophe, or whatever we want to call it, is only a course correction for our species.

Life goes on whether we are here or not.

they said - if the trees could talk.

who said they couldn’t?

,

I think I have to write about how I got here.

ecologies, forced evolution, hereditary lines/ancestry

Part memory, part imagination, and part real life, each organism is hand painted with gouache, colored pencil and charcoal.

I see these as little vignettes of our future.

We spend so much time either catastrophizing, or burying our heads in the sand. I’m interested in illustrating these small mundane moments, whether they will exist in the future or not.

I remember listening to a podcast with @siiamhamilton on @ForTheWild_ , and she described how we are capable of imagining the most detailed future if a zombie apocalypse were to descend onto earth and yet we can’t even think of a future without extraction.

It got me thinking a lot more about a more reciprocal relationship to earth, but more so, to truly believe that climate catastrophe, or whatever we want to call it, is only a course correction for our species. Life goes on whether we are here or not.