Chungmu Arts Center's exhibition shows escalating climate crisis that lies beneath the beauty's surface
At the Chungmu Art Gallery, a series of breathtakingly beautiful images immediately draw the eye.
From a monumental reinterpretation of Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” to a giant panda clinging to a tree and a sweeping view of a snow-covered expanse, “The Glorious World” presents 110 works by four photographers: Ragnar Axelsson, Marco Gaiotti, Nick Hannes and Chris Jordan.
Each captivating image is a layered commentary — a reminder of the climate crisis that lies beneath beauty's surface.
At first glance, Chris Jordan’s “Venus" appears painterly and serene, but closer inspection reveals the image to be a collage of tiny dots — each dot a smaller photograph of a plastic bag. A caption beside the work states: “240,000 plastic bags, equal to the average number consumed around the world every ten seconds (2010 statistic).”
The piece is part of Jordan’s “Running the Numbers" series, which powerfully visualizes statistics on global consumption.
"The dangerous part of speaking to each other in the language of statistics is the absence of any feeling,” Jordan told reporters during a press conference at the Chungmu Arts Center on Monday.
"To seduce the viewer to look at my work, I have to trick them a little bit,” he added.
Nearby, Marco Gaiotti’s photograph of a giant panda clinging to a tree may initially draw a smile. But its context is sobering: part of a decadelong project that chronicles Earth's rapidly vanishing ecosystems. Gaiotti’s work highlights the delicate remnants of terrestrial biodiversity — urging viewers to reflect on what is quietly slipping away.
Ragnar Axelsson’s "Arctic: The Edge of the World" is a powerful and emotional look at life in one of the most remote parts of the world. Through striking black-and-white photos, Axelsson shows the strength of Arctic communities and the fragile beauty of the land they live in — places that are some of the first to show clear signs of climate change.
Nick Hannes’ "Garden of Delight" offers up a different kind of confrontation. Through images taken in Dubai, Hannes probes the environmental and human costs behind extravagant urban development.
"Dubai is maybe the most excessive example of high-speed, neoliberal, market-driven urbanization — a city built with the main goal of making profit. Economically, the story of Dubai is a success. But ecologically, I don’t think it’s showing us the best way to build a city," he said at the press conference.
"I hope people take a closer look at the deeper layers — and that it becomes a call for self-reflection on our behavior as inhabitants of this world.”
The exhibition runs through Aug. 24 at the Chungmu Arts Center’s gallery before heading to the National Institute of Ecology in South Chungcheong Province in October.
Now in its second year, the Climate Change Photo Project, launched by Chungmu Arts Center, drew about 150,000 visitors during its inaugural run, according to the center.
gypark@heraldcorp.com
