I recently attended a lecture at Columbia College Chicago by Photographer/Videographer/Teacher/Environmentalist Peter Goin. Throughout his career, he has focused on the relationship that our contemporary society holds with the land in which and on which we inhabit and interact at several different levels. In an earlier body of work titled Nuclear Landscapes, he asked the viewer to contemplate the very complex and layered tensions between the Beauty and Horror of a completely devastated landscape in Southern Nevada, as well as a few other select nuclear testing sites.
In another body of work titled Changing Mines in America, Goin, along with a landscape historian, visited and photographed a large number of mines throughout the United States. With these photographs, he begins to question our understanding of mines and the evolution of the mines themselves. Some have stayed in working order, while others have become tourist destinations and park systems. These images ask one to question the cultural, historical, and environmental implications that these man-made landscapes will have as they continue to evolve and change.
Finally, in what some consider his most dynamic and thought-provoking body of work, Goin examines the very misunderstood and elaborate relationship that humans have with land and "nature". The intelligently titled Humanature, is a complex combination of photographs, text, and witty yet critical humor. The images force the viewer to confront their understanding of human interaction and alteration of our natural landscape. This in turn, forces one to reexamine the language in which we use in conjunction with the places that Goin photographs. From looking at the photos of controlled burns, human-designed forests, mechanical deer, constructed beaches, and devices disguised as "natural" items, you can begin to understand and question how unrelentingly and deeply humans are involved in the environments surrounding us.
On a final note, aside from being an extremely intelligent and articulate man, and a more-than-competent artist and photographer, Peter is also a very nice man, and one of the hardest working artists that I have had the pleasure of meeting. I look forward to more work from him in the future. If you have a chance to purchase one of his books or see a show of his work, I say, take advantage.
