Pablo López Luz, Vista Aérea de la Ciudad de México, XIII (Aerial View of Mexico City, XIII) from the series Terrazo, 2006. Pigment print, 39 1/3 x 39 1/3 inches (99.9 x 99.9 cm). (courtesy of the artist and Arróniz Gallery, Mexico City. © Pablo López Luz.)
On view through September 13, 2026, at Kemper Museum of Art
The Anthropocene epitomizes what philosopher Timothy Morton has referred to as a “hyperobject,” an event or occurrence that exceeds conventional quantification and defies traditional definitions and understandings of what a thing is. While the term has most commonly been applied to the changes in global climate—adverse changes that have been underway for some time and are unquestionably accelerating—it can also be understood as a critical lens through which we think more broadly about nearly every aspect of human life and its consequences on this planet.
Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene is the first exhibition to examine the Anthropocene thesis through the lens of contemporary photography, and we begin with the assertion that it is not one singular narrative, but a diverse and complex web of relationships between and among humanity, industry, and ecology, the depths and effects of which are continually being discovered.
The exhibition and catalogue examine these relationships through the work of forty-three international, photo-based artists who have engaged with aspects of this phenomenon over the last two decades. We propose that there is no singular artistic understanding or record of the Anthropocene; the diversity of artistic perspectives corresponds appropriately to the diversity of perspectives in the scientific community. Instead, the artists included here have pushed technological boundaries and developed conceptual approaches to image making that constitute a dramatic rupture in the traditions of the medium. They have created myriad approaches to representing the land, collectively charting a diverse artistic reckoning with what it means to live on Earth in the age of the Anthropocene.
Our exhibition begins in the early 2000s, corresponding with the emergence of the term “Anthropocene” in scientific and environmental circles when atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen and biologist Eugene Stoermer proposed it to denote a new geological epoch. Since that time, the Anthropocene thesis has been exposed to a wider public audience through expanding scientific studies and scholarship, increasing coverage in the popular press, widespread and fervent activism, and a variety of artistic responses. The term has since entered into the common lexicon and has been adopted by disciplines outside the sciences, including philosophy, economics, sociology, geography, anthropology, and others, effectively linking it to nearly every aspect of postindustrial life.
Excerpt of an essay by exhibition co-curators Jessica May and Marshall N. Price from the exhibition catalogue. Excerpted by permission, courtesy Rizzoli Electa.
The exhibition Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene is on view at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art through September 13, 2026.
