'This series contemplates the implications of what drilling for oil in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge conveys about our national attitude toward the natural world. The series is part of the larger umbrella project 'The Future is Broken.'

Using a programmable LED 'lightstick' and long exposure photography, the series places the threat of oil production directly in the landscape of the Refuge. Projections of the infrastructure of big oil, its misguided history and our own consumptive behavior as Americans play out in a mystical wilderness few American's have seen, but whose ecological importance everyone benefits from.

Oil drilling is in the early stages of beginning on the North Slope in the '1002' lands due to the Trump Administration's actions. The Refuge is one of, if not the, most remote large tracks of undeveloped land on earth. It is a nursery to the Porcupine Caribou Herd, Polar Bears, and dozens and dozens of migrating bird species who fly there to nest and then fly back not only to every state in the nation, but also to all 7 continents on earth. The size of South Carolina, the Refuge is also home to two native nations: the Gwich'in who live inland and the Iñupiat who live along the Arctic Ocean. The plan to drill will not only devastate wildlife (they want to drill exactly where the Caribou go each spring to calve), it will also create great disruption to two cultures that have existed for several thousands of years... long before the 'white man' entered the picture.


The Future of Oil as Far as the Eye Can See (Rothschild Drilling Rig in Balakhany Russia, 1890s)
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Pumpjack #1, Bled Dry
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Pumpjack #2, the Marrow Depleted
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Pumprise
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
The Dangerous Dreams of Money Men
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Pumpjack #4, Potential Siting in the Tussets
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
The New Villages
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Unsustainable Since the Beginning
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Sign Language
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Encroachment
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Pumpjack #3, The Illusion of Harmony Between Industry + Nature
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
A Misguided Beginning, the First US Oil Well, 1859
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"
Signs of the Times
2025, Archival Pigment Print, 20" x 30"