end of civilization | Abominable Ink by Fazooli

Bar, 2009

American artist and photographer Lori Nix shares a common fascination with me – the seemingly impending post-apocalyptic world, which is why I’m so immediately attracted to her work. She constructs these incredible dioramas and expertly lights and photographs them so as to appear almost hyperreal. Combining her love of landscape art with the childhood memories of living in disaster-prone Kansas, she posits a foreseeable future in her “doomsday dollhouse” photographs.

In my newest body of work “The City” I have imagined a city of our future, where something either natural or as the result of mankind, has emptied the city of it’s human inhabitants. Art museums, Broadway theaters, laundromats and bars no longer function. The walls are deteriorating, the ceilings are falling in, the structures barely stand, yet Mother Nature is slowly taking them over. These spaces are filled with flora, fauna and insects, reclaiming what was theirs before man’s encroachment. I am afraid of what the future holds if we do not change our ways regarding the climate, but at the same time I am fascinated by what a changing world can bring. – Lori Nix, via her website

The end of civilization as we know it is a mesmerizing inevitability that we as humans, are naturally drawn to, so why not continuing to explore this conceptual world without humanity in various art forms? Like our dreams when we sleep, it helps us to further connect with the idea of our own mortality as a species, and reflect on what we’ve done to this planet, and how it will continue to thrive without us in the end. We are but a twinkle in the eye of the storm.

To find out more about Lori Nix and see her work, check out her website.