Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene is a sweeping exploration of how contemporary photographers interpret humanity’s profound and often irreversible impact on the planet. Bringing together the work of forty-three artists from across the globe, the exhibition reveals a generation of image-makers who have redefined the possibilities of photography in response to the environmental realities of our time. Their work captures not only the altered landscapes of Earth but also the evolving relationship between humans, technology, and nature itself.
Emerging alongside the rise of digital technologies in the early 2000s—and the growing recognition of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch—these artists transformed the medium into a tool of reflection and critique. Through experimental techniques, digital manipulation, and conceptual rigor, they document the consequences of human industry, urbanization, and climate disruption, while also uncovering unexpected beauty and resilience within damaged ecosystems. In their images, glaciers glow with unnatural colors, forests fragment into pixels, and oceans shimmer under the weight of unseen change.
Second Nature examines this dual vision: the wonder of creation and the gravity of loss. The photographs on view question the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, asking how we might see the Earth anew when so much of it bears the trace of human touch. The exhibition thus becomes both a mirror and a warning—a meditation on how images shape our understanding of the world we are reshaping.
Organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in partnership with the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Second Nature is curated by Jessica May and Marshall N. Price. Together, they illuminate a crucial dialogue about art’s role in witnessing and responding to a planet in flux.
Image: Gohar Dashti, Untitled #2 from the series Home, 2017. Archival digital pigment print, artist’s proof 1/2, 313/8 x 47 3/16 inches (80 x 120 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery. © Gohar Dashti.
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