Alexey Moskvin

'10 Billion' 2012

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In this nocturnal photographs of forest, I wanted to create a romantic vision of our destructive innocence. The magical qualities of the human presence and the beauty and futility of intention produces a haunting, intricate dance. The quiet balance is fragile and only exists for a moment brought to life by beams of artificial light.

The project was inspired by James Lovelock’s theory of Gaia, and by the play 10 Billion at the Royal Court Theatre. The latter envisions a dystopian future of a severely overpopulated earth, while the former seeks to understand the same earth as a self-regulating, singular organism in which humankind is merely one relatively subsidiary element. Yet both touch on pressing environmental issues and the perception of our surroundings, from the immediate to the global. The constant expansion of human activity somewhat paradoxically prompts that form of nostalgia by which we attempt to find ways to reconnect with nature. Such simple acts are beautiful, admirable, innocent, futile.

Each image is available as a c-type print, limited edition of 5.