Anthropo–Scenes Installation

Featuring thousands of curated tweets linked by the #anthropocene, this immersive piece served as the culminating installation of my MFA thesis. These collective messages reveal a global dialogue that connects people of different ages and backgrounds. Reflecting the Anthropocene’s immense scale, this project challenges viewers to assign their own meaning to this new age.

Anthropo–Scenes Installation

Tweets that feature the #anthropocene had been collected for 6+ months, then distilled and typeset on 17 banners, each measuring 10.5' tall. The installation occupied 33' of space, reflecting the omnipresence of our species' impact on Earth.

Anthropo–Scenes Installation

To add to the gravity of this situation, the type is cramped and heavy at the top—much like how abstract and overwhelming the Anthropocene can be—then is clarified as viewers interact with the lower portion of each banner.

Anthropo–Scenes Installation (Detail)

Each tweet is flanked by the author's username and date of tweet, offering a sense of connection with the text.

Memento Vitae

Memento Vitae borrows from the practice of mourning jewelry to create a set of adornments that pay tribute to three faltering habitats: forests, coral reefs, and glaciers. Through the intimate act of donning each piece, users redefine their relationship with damaged ecosystems, channeling ecological grief into a tactile object while celebrating its beauty.

Memento Vitae: Necklace

Visualizing the global proportion of Acropora cervicornis (or staghorn) coral over time, this necklace melds personal memories of scuba diving with the harsh reality of coral bleaching. 3D-printed from sandstone, the necklace’s materiality also lends itself to the fragility of coral.

Memento Vitae: Ring

3D-printed from nickel-plated steel, this ring carries the physical and emotional weight of melting glaciers. Inspired (but also saddened) by a glacier hike in Iceland, the ring visualizes the melting pattern of the Skaftafellsjökull glacier. The top textured level (which is modeled from the region’s topography) represents the existing glacier today, whereas the bottommost layer shows the glacier’s size in 1890.

Memento Vitae: Book

This handmade book blends personal photographs, writing, and a key to read each of the jewelry data visualizations.

Anthropocene Iconography

As part of my thesis research, I learned that the Anthropocene does not have an official start date—rather, it has multiple proposed ones. I used this detail as a prompt to create a set of  icons for each proposed start date, ranging from the invention of farming to the atomic age. With their hard, striking appearance, these icons demand attention to be directed towards the Anthropocene.

Anthropocene Iconography

I reimagined these Anthropocene icons as emblems on golden spikes, which are geological markers used by geologists to indicate a division of time in the rock record. Typically these metal disks denote major shifts in the environment which can be seen and measured in the rock record.

Anthropocene Iconography

My version of golden spikes were then placed in spaces that humans have built, such as gas stations. Each spike icon could be scanned to point viewers to a web page that discusses the importance of solidifying the Anthropocene in the rock record. Though each disk and icon reflect a different start date, the lasting global change our species has brought to planet Earth cannot be ignored.

Seventh Generation

Based on Iroquois philosophy, the Seventh Generation Principle states that decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. With this in mind, I was curious as to what anthropogenic processes I could reveal in my family’s history, and how that has trickled down to the present. I interviewed my grandmother (center), and discovered familial ties to the Ford Motor Company, aerospace industry, and Chrysler in Detroit. This exploration goes to show that anthropogenic impact is deeply embedded within the human experience. Narratives of my family and the Anthropocene have been intertwined for generations.

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The Future Is...As We Create It

Words and world-building provide an escape from reality, enabling distancing of ourselves from a problem, or euphemizing a subject or issue. In the Anthropocene, such fabricated environments can serve as a critique of current ways of thinking and approaching our lifestyles and habits. In a world where jellyfish rule the oceans and schools teach the history of plastics, reality and fiction are blurred—is this the world we are headed toward, or already living in?

The Future Is...As We Create It

Created in a weekend workshop with Jiminie Ha and Laura Coombs, we were tasked with viewing our thesis projects through the lens of an assigned classmate. Using the viewpoint of Aasawari, I looked at the Anthropocene through words (she writes poetry!) and world-building (she is a big fan of Harry Potter.) I began mixing and rearranging tweets that were tagged with #anthropocene to create an Anthropocene poem that was expanded into a map.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a phrase that pushes towards the new, no matter what’s in the way—that one should proceed with as much speed or energy as possible. In terms of impact on planet Earth, humans have been utilizing this mindset for quite some time. In this publication, I examine vintage imagery of anthropogenic industries and juxtapose them with texts and quotes surrounding sustainability, offering a critical view of these tools. Moving forward, how can we change our ways to sustain all life?