Suchergebnisse

James Balog created the Extreme Ice Survey in 2006. Since then, his team of photographers have taken over 2 million photographs of glaciers all around the world. This thesis explores the aesthetics of the Anthropocene through the photography of Balog and his research team as they conduct an ongoing repeat photography project. By examining the three distinct types of photography he employs—landscape, portraiture, and repeat photography—I examine each form in relation to political ecology, restoration ecology, geological sciences, ecocriticism, and environmental theory. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of William Chaloupka, Jane Bennett, Timothy Morton, Anna Tsing, Douglas Weiner, and William Cronon, this thesis highlights the political potential and theoretical contradictions of landscape photography, speculative photography, and repeat photography, underscoring how each relates to, reaffirms, and contests the popular notion of 'wilderness' in the United States. Through a careful examination of the Extreme Ice Survey's photographs, this thesis makes the case that photography has significant implications for how the environment is structured in public consciousness. It concludes by suggesting that repeat photography provides a basis from which a less distanced, more critical ecological engagement predicated on continual self reflection and questioning can take place.