Art as Environmental Communication

In Jennifer Peeples article, Toxic Sublime: Imaging Contaminated Landscapes she introduces the concept of toxic sublime in order to analyze the visual representations of environmental contamination. She defines the term, "...toxic sublime as the tensions that arise from recognizing the toxicity of a place, objective or situation, while simultaneously appreciating its mystery, magnificence and ability to inspire awe" (Peeples, J., (2011), p. 376).

Edmund Burke argues that, while beauty is found in small objects, things that are smooth, delicate, elegant, graceful and clean, fair, and mild in color, the sublime portrays vastness, privation, difficulty, infinity, magnitude and magnificence. Furthermore, a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant concluded that beauty and the sublime functioned differently. Beauty portrays the feeling that the mind was restful and contemplative while the sublime creates the idea that the mind was moved.

This picture is perfect depiction of both beauty and sublime as it portrays the two sides of nature next to each order in order to explain the difference. The article mentions how, "Constructions of the sublime in nature, descriptions and images of majestic cliffs, soaring mountains, fearsome ocean storms and precipitous drops recreated an understanding of the human-nature relationship from one of fear and conquest to spiritual and political significance (DeLuca & Demo, 2000; Oravec, 1981)" (Peeples, J., (2011), p. 381). Therefore, anything that evoked terror was a source of sublime and beauty generated "the passion of love".

I found Vicky Goldberg and Robert Bruce Silberman description of three different compositional structures used by American photographers to capture transformed landscapes interesting. These three include photographic plea, environmental nightmare and the third composition, contrasts the plea and nightmare in the same picture. The article goes on to mention the noteworthy artists working in this genre. These include David Hanson, David Maisel, Chris Jordan, Alan Berger, Peter Goin, Emmet Gowin and Edward Burtnsky.

The first one is photographic plea. This includes images of the beautiful nature in its original condition and unspoiled. This image of Russia`s Lake Baikal is a perfect example. This is one of the world`s greatest lakes because it has 20% of the planet`s surface fresh water. However, as Russia`s tourism industry continues to grow and expand, this lake is in danger of growing human activity.

The second compositional structure is called environmental nightmare. This includes displays of apocalyptic visions of what is to going to happen to the environment as growth and exploitation continue to expand unchecked. This includes sprawl, pollution, waste and destruction. Therefore, this image created by a Digital Artist named Jonas Deros is a perfect example of a city like Toronto will look like after human activity has run its course and left nothing behind. As you can see there is no nature to be found in this image. There seems to be pollution and waste everywhere. The itself seems to be gone through major destruction.

This third is a contrast between the actions and effects of human activity and original purity of nature shown in one photograph. Therefore, this is a perfect example because it shows the natural environment with no human activity in sight. The environmental in this picture seems to have its original purity. However, human impact is growing and spreading underwater as the dolphin swims with a plastic bag stuck on its wing. Therefore, this image depicts the idea that human activity is inescapable and eventually will reach all parts of the earth and ultimately create an environmental nightmare.