Glacial Optics - Energy Transition, 2024
Ice lens photographs documenting sites of oil extraction and energy production.

In 2024 I turned my ice ice lenses to explore the green energy transition though juxtaposition of two sites in Southern California: Placerita oil field near Santa Clarita and the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area (TWRA) near Mojave. I wanted to bring the gaze of the glacier to witness the sites of resource extraction and energy production in the Anthropocene. Patrick J. Reed from Fulcrum Arts in Pasadena rode along with me on one of my shoots —you can read his account of our adventure here.

This is part of my ongoing series Glacial Optics, exploring glacier ice as a literal and conceptual lens through with to understand ourselves and the world. In this work I explore the ‘gaze of the glaciers’ as offering a perspective beyond the human fame —invoking the glacier’s massive scale, its sense of deep time, and, increasingly in the face of climate change, its massive fragility.