Starting this year, I staged diptychs of young people using iPhones in natural scenes around California's Central Coast. I was interested in thinking about the juxtaposition of technology with the California landscape, on Native Awaswas land. Each diptych consists of a scene with people and then a portrait of the same landscape without them. The second picture is a portrait of the landscape as someone would make a portrait of a person. I found it important to imagine the land as a necessary character in the work as opposed to just the background of an image. This landscape is one that has seen generations of people come and go.
The work explores themes of technology and landscape, showing how our interactions with the environment evolve. The juxtaposition of human presence and natural settings highlights the changing dynamics between technology and nature. By capturing both the people and the landscape, the project aims to provoke thought about our relationship with the environment and the impact of technological advancements on our perception of nature.
