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Vancouver photographer Mark Mizgala’s latest body of work, Shift, explores the shifts in attitudes, behaviours, and ideas regarding climate change, conflating plant cuttings and manufactured goods in images that anticipate a future where humanity and nature find greater harmony. The cuttings serve a parallel or complementary function to the human artifacts they interact with: they are united in a common purpose. Nestled into the human world, the cuttings support a camera, lace shoes, or brush hair.
We are witnessing a shift in attitudes toward climate change. Polluters and climate change skeptics are losing traction as growing numbers of people acknowledge the reality of global warming. Following from this change in attitudes, there has been a shift in behaviour due to the effects of global warming, such as the widespread move to energy-saving products like CFL bulbs and high-efficiency appliances and initiatives such as car-share programs.
Mizgala’s photographs imagine a future where nature and humanity exist in harmony and the natural world finds its rightful home alongside the outputs of human production. While we cannot reverse the effects of climate change, we have the opportunity to mitigate it if we work cooperatively.
This project was funded with the assistance of a BC Arts Council Grant.