Naomi White is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose work addresses themes such as feminism, consumerism and ecology.

Her series Time Capsules from the Anthropocene juxtaposes objects and scenes from nature with elements of the man made world, presented as still life compositions in a nod to seventeenth century Dutch still life paintings.  Like the vanitas, her works use animal skulls as a symbol of mortality, alongside other signifiers of nature such as flowers and photographs of picturesque landscapes.  Placed next to symbols of modern consumerism, such as plastic bags and wash baskets, we are reminded of the impact humans are having on our natural world and of the delicate balance as we find ourselves at the tipping point of irreversibly devastating our planet’s natural ecosystem.

In her series Plastic Currents, she investigates the form of the plastic bag.  Used to carry our purchases, the carrier bag is a symbol of our consumerist greed, and therefore of capitalism.  In White’s work, the bag is no longer a cheap throwaway object in which to transport the material objects we seem to be unable to stop buying in vast quantities, but becomes the material object itself, taking on a new form of undulating, flowing form, appearing almost organic.

References:

www.naomiwhite.com  [Accessed 5 April 2020]