During the fall of 2021, I served as a virtual artist-in-residence at Planet Labs, Inc. an Earth imaging company based in San Francisco, California. Planet’s hundreds of Dove satellites photograph the entire world on a daily basis and provide information that is particularly pertinent to researching and monitoring climate change, crop yield predictions, urban planning, disaster planning and more.
The paintings that I completed as part of my residency are interpretations of a geological phenomenon that is occurring off the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan. Because the Dead Sea has been shrinking dramatically in size as a result of climate change, the extraction of minerals and the damming of the Jordan River, which once provided a source of new water to the Sea, over 6000 sinkholes have developed. So dangerous that most of the former recreational areas are now inaccessible to residents and tourists, these sinkholes are also incredibly beautiful. Seen from above via satellites and drones, the sinkholes are brilliant cobalt blue, lime green, white, yellow ochre and rust red. The contrast between the horrifying destruction around the Dead Sea and the magnificence of that destruction is stunning. To me, it is as if the Earth is consciously responding to the damage we have caused to it - the Earth is breaking, but beautifully.
