The Edge of Wildness: Photographs by Jason Poole

 Our long held illusions of dominion over and separation from the natural world have led us to build the artificial constructs of our global civilization. Now as these man-made systems of exploitation begin to unravel, we find ourselves unable to contend with the consequences of the anthropocene. We are angry and powerless. We can no longer believe in our future. Confined within the web of our digital hubris we double down on the unreality of technology. We cannot think straight, constantly distracting ourselves from the inner fear that progress is in retreat. Distraction, it seems, is all we have to hold onto.

Yet there are other ways to exist in the world. Photography has become my instrument of liberation. The method I use to enter the landscape. To stop and pay attention. I find we can surrender our conceits and fears, to allow a wildness within to expand. So we may see an underlying wisdom in the elements at play. The world itself be­comes alive and multifaceted - communicating with itself. Fleetingly we understand this unspoken conversation, we reintegrate with the earth. My images are an attempt to convey these essential connections hidden in plain sight, they are reminders of our elusive bonds to this earth. – Jason Russell Poole