Michelle Nye is an artist, curator and arts administrator who lives and works in Oakland, California.
I went hunting for an America promised in a dream
and found the march of suburbia
gobbling up open spaces.
I found intersections of nature and man
which spoke like urgent metaphors.
Our out-of-control consumption
creating a landscape carved and gouged
by our transportation and energy networks.
I saw power-lines, broken fences and boarded-up buildings
fighting for solidness and certainty
against stormy skies and swallowing mists.
Roads dotted with telephone-poles
slicing through mountains and along coastal ridges.
Oak trees with naked branches
pushing electricity towers out of the way.
Surrounded by the heat of a battle,
I’m left with an ominous feeling of loss
and a powerful sense of awe for what is to come.
These photographs were taken on journeys exploring California and the West. Using 4×5 and 35 millimeter film cameras the images are printed using either a Van Dyke emulsion contact print process or archival digital printing. Using the images as source I sometimes write poems to accompany each photo, writing them directly onto the surface of the photo under layers of inks, acrylics and oils.
– Michelle Nye
