Gideon Mendel, Anchalee Koyama, Taweewattana District, Bangkok, Thailand, November 2011 from the series Drowning World: Submerged Portraits, 2011. Laser print on fabric, dimensions variable. (courtesy of the artist and Axis Gallery, New York & New Jersey. ©Gideon Mendel.)
On view May 22 – September 13, 2026, at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
This summer, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art presents an exhibition that asks a difficult question: what does our planet look like now that humans themselves have become a geological force?
Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene, on view May 22 through September 13, 2026, is the final stop of this first major exhibition to examine the Anthropocene through the lens of contemporary photography. Bringing together roughly 45 artists working across the globe, Second Nature reveals how photographers are documenting—and challenging—the profound environmental and social transformations of our time.
Just over two decades ago, scientists introduced the term “Anthropocene” to describe a new epoch defined by human impact on Earth’s climate and ecosystems. Since then, the idea has migrated far beyond the sciences, shaping debates in philosophy, economics, geography, and the arts.
Second Nature translates this complex concept into powerful visual terms. Organized into four thematic sections—“Reconfiguring Nature,” “Toxic Sublime,” “Inhumane Geographies,” and “Envisioning Tomorrow”—the exhibition presents images that are at once mesmerizing and unsettling: aerial views of landscapes that are both breathtaking and contaminated, monumental depictions of urban expansion, collages that confront colonial histories embedded in the land, and speculative visions of futures that feel alarmingly close.
These artists confront the realities of melting ice, rising waters, and relentless resource extraction, but they also probe deeper questions about power, history, and responsibility. The Anthropocene, the exhibition suggests, is not a single story but a tangled web of relationships between humanity, industry, and ecology—one whose consequences are still unfolding.
Organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and co-curated by Kemper Museum’s Executive Director Jessica May and Marshall N. Price, Second Nature arrives in Kansas City at a moment of global attention. As the city prepares to welcome visitors from around the world, the exhibition offers a timely provocation: a chance to see our changing planet through the eyes of global artists who are both witnesses to—and participants in—this extraordinary age.
