Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene is the first major exhibition to examine the Anthropocene through the lens of contemporary photography. Comprised of forty-five photo-based artists working in a variety of artistic methods from studios and sites across the globe, Second Nature explores the complexities of this proposed new age. Collectively, these artists offer compelling visual imagery necessary for picturing the Anthropocene: aerial views of beautiful but toxic sites, collages that incorporate archival photographs to counter colonial narratives, depictions of urbanism on an unimaginable scale, and imagined yet precarious futures. In doing so, they address urgent issues such as vanishing ice, rising waters, and increasing resource extraction, as well as the deeply rooted and painful legacies of colonialism, forced climate migration, and socio-environmental trauma.
Artists include: Sammy Baloji (born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo), Adrián Balseca (born in Quito, Ecuador), Matthew Brandt (born in Los Angeles, CA), Edward Burtynsky (born in St. Catharines, Canada), María Magdalena Campos-Pons (born in La Vega, Matanzas, Cuba), James Casebere (born in Lansing, MI), João Castilho (born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil), Elena Damiani (born in Lima, Peru), Gohar Dashti (born in Ahvaz, Iran), Sanne de Wilde (born in Antwerp, Belgium), Andrew Esiebo (born in Lagos, Nigeria), Gauri Gill (born in Chandigarh, India), Noémie Goudal (born in Paris, France), Todd Gray (born in Los Angeles, CA), Acacia Johnson (born in Anchorage, AK), Mouna Karray (born in Sfax, Tunisia), Robert Kautuk (born in Iqaluit, Nunavut), Zhang Kechun (born in Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China), Rosemary Laing (born in Brisbane, Australia), Sze Tsung Nicolás Leong (born in Mexico City, Mexico), Anna Líndal (born in Hvammstangi, Iceland), Inka Lindergård (born in Saltvik, Finland) and Niclas Lindergård (born in Sandviken, Sweden), Pablo López Luz (born in Mexico City, Mexico), Dhruv Malhotra (born in Jaipur, India), Laura McPhee (born in New York, NY), Gideon Mendel (born in Johannesburg, South Africa), Hayley Millar Baker (Gunditjmara and Djabwurrung, born in Melbourne, Australia), Joiri Minaya (born in New York, NY), Richard Mosse (born in Kilkenny, Ireland), Aïda Muluneh (born in Addis Ababa Ethiopia), Léonard Pongo (born in Liège, Belgium), Meghann Riepenhoff (born in Atlanta, GA), Cara Romero (Chemehuevi, born in Inglewood, CA), Anastasia Samoylova (born in Moscow, Russia), Camille Seaman (Shinnecock, Born in Huntington, NY), David Benjamin Sherry (born in Stony Brook, NY), Toshio Shibata (born in Tokyo, Japan), Sim Chi Yin (born in Singapore), Thomas Struth (born in Geldern, Germany), Danila Tkachenko (born Moscow, Russia), Rajesh Vangad (born in Dahanu, India), Letha Wilson (born in Honolulu, HI), Will Wilson (Diné/Navajo, born in San Francisco, CA), Yang Yongliang (born in Shanghai, China).