Jamey Stillings Livres

In this new monograph, Jamey Stillings merges his environmental interests with a fascination for the interplay between nature and human activity. Beginning in October 2010, he undertook a three-and-a-half year aerial exploration of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California's Mojave Desert, the world's largest concentrated solar power plant. Documenting the transformation from the stark pre-construction landscape to the completed facility generating 392 megawatts over 14 square kilometers, Stillings captures the dynamic interactions between organic forms of nature and the precise geometric lines of the solar plant. His striking black and white images, taken from a helicopter during dawn and dusk, present tight abstractions, oblique views of geological and geometric forms, and expansive vistas of the desert basin. However, projects like Ivanpah also raise complex questions about land and resource use. Throughout his work, Stillings noted varying perspectives and contradictions within the environmental movement, local communities, and the energy industry. While Ivanpah is situated in the American Southwest, the challenges and promises of renewable energy resonate globally. Stillings’ larger project, Changing Perspectives, will further investigate the state of renewable energy development, contributing to the contemporary discourse on environment and climate change through impactful imagery.

With ATACAMA, Jamey Stillings again shares his distinctive aerial perspective to examine dramatic large-scale renewable energy projects, the visual dynamic of enormous mining operations and the stark beauty of the Atacama Desert, so often scarred by human activity. Chile produces a third of the world’s copper and has the largest known lithium reserves, and we utilize these resources daily in our cars, computers and smartphones. The country’s mining industry has traditionally been dependent on imported coal, diesel and natural gas for its energy. Yet the Atacama Desert has excellent solar and wind potential: new renewable energy projects there now supply significant electricity to the northern grid, transmit power to population centers in the south, and are reducing mining’s dependence on fossil fuel. Stillings’ aesthetic interest in the human-altered landscape and concerns for environmental sustainability are principal pillars of his work. His photography elicits a critical dialogue about meeting our needs and desires while seeking equilibrium between nature and human activity. ATACAMA, the latest chapter in his ongoing project “Changing Perspectives,” shows how photography can concurrently be a source of inspiration, motivation and information, and reminds us that a carbon-constrained future is crucial to a responsible approach to life on earth. Sprachen: Englisch, Spanisch