Every day, we hear about new environmental damage to the Earth and though it alarms us, it also feels distant. Photographer J. Henry Fair has made it his mission to bring that damage closer, so we can confront it. His powerful aerial photographs of "industrial scars" are collected in a new book, The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis, which he'll talk about and sign at Silvermine Arts Guild on Feb. 13, from 1-3 p.m. Fair's work has been displayed in major media, including New York and Harper's Magazines, CNN and National Georgraphic. In his vivid photographs, he catalogs some of the most egregious environmental destruction. Ironically, at first glance, these photographs resemble brightly colored, abstract paintings. But once the viewer realizes they are actually landscapes destroyed by our negligence and expedience, such as overmined West Virginia hilltops, the Gulf of Mexico's oil slick and paper mills in Ontario, it is a sobering reality check.
Last month, a Smithsonian.com article described Fair's impetus to motivate, without blaming. "His goal is not to indicthe doesnt identify the polluters by namebut to raise public awareness about the costs of our choices. Such advocacy groups as Greenpeace and Rainforest Alliance have used Fairs work to advance their causes."
Though he doesn't point fingers, Fair is a dedicated environmentalist who has said his work has informed his lifestyle. He is a regular contributor to the Natural Resources Defense Fund's OnEarth Magazine and a co-founder ot the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY. As he indicates on his website, Fair clearly is hopeful we can change how we treat our planet.
"My vision is of a different possibility, arrived at through careful husbandry of resources and adjustment of our desires and consumption patterns toward a future of health and plenty." See the startling photographs and meet the committed photographer who took them, J. Henry Fair, when he visits SIlvermine on Feb. 13. The event is free. For more information, visit Silvermine's website.
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