Adaptation

Full description

Background
This documentary project incorporates ‘research into [the] formulation, and to exactly define the subject photographed’ (Becher et al., 2018) to examine ways in which themes of migration, security, climate and AI technology are informing how humanity is responding and adapting to future narratives. The broader context of the project is aligned with contemporary documentary photographic practices. Photography publication Aperture frames their Winter 2020 issue Utopia as ‘a way to see the present anew and to give some shape and color to our hopes and grievances’ (Jennings, 2020) while the 2018 touring exhibition Civilization: The way we live now included works by photographers exploring binary ideas around humanity’s future: destruction and disaster or a better life through progress.

Contribution
Adaptation includes photographic images and a video work that explore multiple narratives and reflections on the future of humanity. Aligning with a conceptual strategy developed by photographer Robert Adams in his work Our Lives and Our Children (1983), the 13 images in Adaptation were arranged into a 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio to anchor them into a story telling narrative.

Significance
Adaptation was selected for the 2019 Pingyao International Photography Festival (PIPF) in China, the longest running and largest photography festival in China, attracting photographers and curators from around the world. In 2019 the theme was ‘Happiness and Efforts’, and included Russian photojournalist Vladimir Vyatkin, as well as US photographer and film maker Neal Slavin. Previous artists included Joseph Koudelka, Martin Parr, Roger Ballen, Trent Parke and Polixeni Papapetrou. Submissions are invited and selected by a panel of peers who curate the festival. My inclusion in this festival has led to invitations to other festivals, most recently the Eyes on Main Street festival in the US.