(WORK-IN-PROGRESS) ‘Trembling Earth’ injects documentary photography with fantastical visual elements to portray both the environmental and the spiritual significance of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
At 438,000-acres, the refuge is one of the largest intact freshwater ecosystems in the world, and is home to more than 600 species of wild plants, 200 species of birds, 100 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 35 species of fish, including rare and endangered species.
Already affected by climate change, and now under impending threat by industry, this unique place needs further protection before it is lost to future generations. Despite designation as a National Wildlife Refuge, North America’s largest blackwater swamp is still under threat by the titanium mining industry.
While the refuge may be protected, its boundaries are not. Trail Ridge, the geologic formation that spans the eastern boundary of the swamp, is currently threatened by the Twin Pines Mining Company, which has proposed plans for heavy mineral sand mining that would cover an expanse of roughly 8,000-acres next to the refuge. Upsetting this 10,000-year-old ecological balance with mining will lower the water table and increase drought, causing greater susceptibility to wildfire, and could lead to the collapse of an entire ecosystem.
The sum of Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp is more than the flora and fauna that call it home — there is an unmistakable yet ineffable mystical quality. Through the use of conceptual in-camera techniques, without the use of post-production effects, this work represents both truth and what I consider the unquantifiable spiritual presence of this primordial space.