The Anthropocene Surveys

Even if extreme action were taken now in the face of the climate crisis, many aspects of the natural world have already been or still will be irrevocably changed. Annals of the Former World is my testimony to the wonder of the natural world as we found it, and serves as my record of this world for my own daughter and future generations, both what we had and what we lost, an elegy for a world that will never be the same.

Within the broader Annals of the Former World project, The Anthropocene Surveys imagines a future history where photographers, inspired by the Great Surveys of the American West after the Civil War, conducted the Anthropocene Surveys to document what would soon be lost for the benefit of future generations. This future history culminates in a museum exhibition in the year 2124 that introduces museum visitors of the twenty-second century to the wonders of the early twenty-first century via photographs and captions. You can see a timeline of this future history here.

My handmade artist book, Annals of the Former World: The Anthropocene Surveys 2013-2024, includes a selection from multiple surveys.

You can find a review of my exhibition of this work at Cove Street Arts in 2022 here.

The Anthropocene Surveys conducted include:

First Iceland Anthropocene Survey (2018)

First Maine Anthropocene Survey (2013-2019)

First Northern Rockies Anthropocene Survey (2019)

First West of the 100th Meridian Anthropocene Survey (2015-2019)