Bailey Rigby - 2021

Innocence and Guilt

For this project, I thought about all of the different ways to tell the story of the Anthropocene, but had a difficult time trying to figure out the parts that I felt like I could retell. I have appreciated learning about the science and numbers and how it all brings things into perspective, however, the most intriguing part of this class for me has been the emotional intensity and how we have all learned about the true reality of the state we are living in. Two main things came to mind after thinking about this: the first being the destruction of the innocence of the Earth, and the second being the intense guilt that follows our actions. In this series of photographs I have created, I have incorporated several uses of symbolism to represent these two aspects. In relation to the first aspect, white is often a symbol of innocence, it is pure, untouched, and bright in nature. In this case, our own planet Earth was once this way. In each photograph, there is some sort of representation of this destruction of innocence, whether that be with blood, fire, or abandonment. Moving on to the second aspect, I incorporated blood, which symbolizes guilt in many circumstances. In three of the four images there is a bloody handprint, representing the human presence of guilt on the effects of extinction, waste, and consumerism. The white rose, drenched in the same blood, is lit on fire, which overall depicts the rebirth our planet needs to go through after we really understand the guilt and find solutions to the problems we have created. Overall, through this project I hope to have illustrated part of the story of our human existence, and how it emotionally impacts us in so many different ways. Each photograph represents the Anthropocene in all of its harsh realities, but hopefully all encourage new ideas and perspectives for our future.