Nature is ever changing. Never more so than today. Yet the increasingly ephemeral state of our remaining wild places can be documented — and remembered. The photograph provides us a way to preserve not only a moment in the woods, but to serve as a voice for those same wild places that no longer exist.
Drew Harkey began recording these lost landscapes as an archaeologist. At first, his photography was unintentional; he only snapped shots as a way to capture patterns he sensed from the forest. But over time he realized that these images were really the only way to return — because an archaeologist is called in to make sure a road, industrial park or housing development can move forward. After he leaves, the bulldozers follow.
Today, Drew documents places endangered and preserved, hoping to show the same essence found in both — hoping to demonstrate the value of all wild places regardless their legislated fate. His work, then, is an epitaph, a plea and a celebration. And, most especially, an opportunity to share with others those exceptional moments when he has witnessed Nature as artist.
exhibition
Florida Environs
LeMoyne Arts
June 1–30, 2018. Tallahassee, Florida
Curated by Ann Kozeliski, Art Director
selected works