Tyler W. Green

Carbon, Element

2024

Exhitibion:ABQ Open Space Visitor Center, Albuquerque, NM - 6/15 - 8/10

Book: Available June, 2024

Carbon, Element explores the connection between human-caused global warming and increased wildfire intensity. Beginning with the industrial revolution, fossil fuel emissions have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere by over fifty percent, reaching a new annual high every year since 1995. This increase in carbon dioxide has warmed the planet by creating a greenhouse effect that traps heat within the atmosphere.

Keeling Curve I, Carreton Canyon, Santa Fe N.F.

One of the key indicators of a warming planet is drought. Over the past two decades, three quarters of New Mexico counties have experienced moderate to exceptional drought, leading to water emergencies, widespread crop and pasture losses and a devastating wildfire season that burned nearly 860 thousand acres across the state in 2022.

Flaming stump, Cooney Point, Gila N.F.

Photographs of areas impacted by the Hermit Peak / Calf Canyon, Cerro Pelado and Black fires depict a charred landscape where blackened trunks stand along barren hillsides. Holes are sunken into the earth where tree roots were incinerated and the bones of animals are found blackened and brittle. Photographs of smoke from the 2023 Pass fire reveal dark ominous skies while other images show flames climbing the trunk of trees.

Smoke plume I, 215-mile-long smoke plume, May 10, 2022

Handprints painted on burnt tree trunks allude to the human influence on the increasingly destructive nature of these fires, while images of salvage logging portray the continued impact of human activity across the landscape. Together, these photographs express the devastating force of wildfires that have become more intense in part by human-caused global warming.

Artificial dust, Carreton Canyon, Santa Fe N.F.

The connection between human activity and growing wildfire intensity is further expressed through the photographic print. Using the intaglio printmaking process, the photographs are printed using carbon-based ink. This ink is crafted from a raw pigment refined from charcoal collected from each location where the photographs were made.

Lone pine, salvage logging, Tecolote Canyon, Santa Fe N.F.

By incorporating carbon into the printed artwork, a physical connection is formed between the photograph and the subject. This connection serves as an element of continuity between the fires, photos and the warming climate, accentuating the relationship between our collective actions and the welfare of our environment.