Gleanings

Jamie Cabreza - artist

I have always been interested in the pathways we create in our environment, and the agency we take when choosing which way to go. Particularly, the sidewalks and streets in our towns and cities. I began paying attention to the way we choose to landscape these routes, and in doing so started a series I call UpDown, where I photograph the canopy provided by these trees and sometimes buildings, along with the blossoms and droppings left behind on the sidewalk at various seasons. Cherry Blossom Chance, a favored photograph collage from this project, led to me contemplating the difference of what the trees and plant life leave behind compared to the humans inhabiting the same space.  These contemplations became visuals that added to the complexity of the project.

Those musings guided me to my current work where I am documenting the debris tossed out that are beginning to become permanent additions to our surroundings. Most of my documentation now includes me picking up and cataloguing the objects as if I am a detective collecting evidence. These “Gleanings”  are often reunited with their photographs in a final singular object, giving them both an enhanced value and presence. I am gathering both photographs and specimens from our present moment in the Anthropocene. Mirroring our current situation, attempting to create these micro landscapes to question our relationship with these disposable, single use items that we use so casually to the detriment of our planet.