Climate, Going to Extremes

I selected a photograph of a gloved hand holding a GPS in cold weather. I chose to remix this image to explore the issues of Climate Change. An environmental issue on a grand scale that we overlook so easily from day to day. Temperatures are changing at alarming rates and super storms are bearing down with greater regularity. Droughts and wildfires are intensifying and the oceans are acidifying. To visually represent these issues, I placed the earth in the hand and surrounded it with climate intensities, almost engulfing the earth. The hand represents our hands, as we have the power to create pathways for change.

Remixed by: Laura Clymer

Original Image Citation: Garmin Ltd. (Photograph Rights). (2014, August). TOPO U.S. 24K maps. Backpacker Magazine, P. 09.

Exposed: From Under Tree Cover

I selected the original image of the aftermath of clear-cutting viewed from above for the stark contrast between lush and barren on the hills right next to one another. I chose to remix the image by taking that aerial view and showing it alongside my idea of a view from the ground in the midst of these forests. One of the devastations of clear-cutting is that though trees might return to the site, biodiversity often cannot, so I chose to show the image of a logger looking up at the site of a bird as it flies out from underneath the cover of the forest being felled and over the aerial view of the hills in search of a new home. 

Remixed by Amanda Miller

Original Image Citation: Crisman, C. (Photographer). (2015, August). Beyond the timber wars (photograph). Nature Conservancy Magazine, P. 30. 

Modern Agriculture

I chose to remix an advertisement for Modern Agriculture – an initiative that promotes the intersection of technology and farming. What caught my attention about this ad is their endorsement by Monsanto. The ad presents a very organic aesthetic, where one farmer is thoughtfully checking his crop. I remixed this image with a different interpretation of the approach to modern farming that this ad offers. With Monsanto’s involvement in GMO production, and the impact its products have on both human health and the environment, I replaced the text images of common GMO chemical structures. I have also incorporated images of crop planes (aka crop dusters), of which their intended purpose is to cover crops with fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals often found to be harmful to the consumer and the environment. Below the GMO chemical structures, I’ve included a collage that gives a nod to the history of faming in the United States to further show the rapid evolution of farming and agricultural practices in today’s society.

Remixed by Jeff G.

Original Image Citation: Popular Science, July/August 2017, page 15.

Caged In

The image I remixed reflects the monstrosity of animal cruelty. My intention here was to bring awareness to the harms of wildlife in unnecessary captivity. Across the world, there are instances of animal mistreatment and abuse. The image depicts negative human influence on animals as animals are often are used for show and entertainment. Animals have been and continue to be robbed of their natural freedoms. It is time for a change and for advocacy. It is time humans make it a mission to protect and sustain the natural world as well as educate one another in conserving and preserving wildlife. 

Remixed by Aileen LoBrutto

Original Image Citation: Well groomed. The Knot. 2017. Artist and page number are not indicated.

Consume

I was inspired to remix the original image because it provoked me. The found advertisement features a cell phone on a plate with a fork against a bright chartreuse background. As a screen-obsessed culture, we experience most of our day through the frame of an electronic device, often at the expense of activities that could connect us more authentically with our environment, relationships, and our communities. 

My remixed image is intended to critique our fascination with screens, and technology through the juxtaposition of natural imagery and mid-century-style illustrated characters. In the foreground, a man presents a television that displays a screen filled with man-made, labeled colors while a mother and daughter look on with awe-struck expressions, ignoring the fields of wildflowers that surround them. Also included is a large firefly and a scene of fireflies at night, evoking a comparison between the lights on an electronic screen and the simple pleasures of watching natural lights on a summer evening. The fourth figure in the top left corner symbolizes the discomfort inherent in changing habits, or disrupting a previously-held world view. 

Remixed by: Emily Valenza

original  image citation: Advertisement, Cosmopolitan Magazine, September 2017

In the End

In the End

By Jocelyn Rivera, 

Summer 2017

This first image spoke to me. 

It evoked the feeling that I was looking deeply into the soul which contained the universe. This "soul" was wearing earth's sky as clothing in all the loveliness that this beautiful planet holds within its' atmosphere. 

The remixed picture on the right depicts the soul that has been taught to love the earth in all of its' diversity - from the ocean shore where many learn to first love the water, waves and ocean creatures. To depths of the ocean where many discoveries await the brave and curious. To earth's ordinary - the small school garden where children frolic and play and where nature finds its' sustenance, the nectar of the flowers and where the garden produces food for the body, the carrots - and for the mind - understanding life cycles of plants and insects. 

The silhouette, the "soul" appears to be a young person. The young are our hope. They can, imagine, create, explore, preserve, conserve and turn the tide to help heal our planet.

From the words of a Senegalese sage:

"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." (Baba Dioum, 1968).

Remixed by Jocelyn Rivera

Original image citation: The Oprah Magazine, November 2015, Volume 16, Number 11. Illustration by Silja Gotz. Portrait by Chad Griffith.