
The Anthropocene Illusion
- Publisher
- Guest Editions
- Year
- 2021
- Specifications
- Casebound in printed green Colorado cloth
254 x 300mm
196 pages
75 colour images
12-page index section with extended image descriptions
Essay by Zed Nelson
Printed in the UK on Fedrigoni papers
'While we destroy the natural world around us, we have become masters of a stage-managed, artificial experience of nature, a reassuring spectacle, an illusion.' Over six years, across four continents, the artist has examined how humans immerse themselves in increasingly simulated environments to mask a destructive divorce from the natural world. From theme parks, zoos and natural history museums, to national parks, African safaris and alpine resorts, this work reveals not only a global phenomenon of denial and collective self-delusion, but also a craving for connection to a world we have turned our back on. Humans have concentrated in cities and divorced themselves from the land once roamed and from other animals, yet cannot face the true scale of that loss. This work reflects on how, at a time of environmental crisis, a consoling version of nature has been packaged as a curated experience, an illusionary spectacle designed to obscure and reassure.