Zuya Yang

I extended this idea of [Mimicking Nature] by thinking about how the landscape is sublimely and romantically portrayed in the history of photography.
    I studied archives from early landscape photographers like Ansel Adams, William Henry Jackson and Herbert Ponting. In response to manipulation in landscape photography, I place the origins of zoos and the role of landscape photography in colonial history to reevaluate the ways in which the creation and replication of natural landscapes demonstrate human control and comprehension of the natural world. The examination and appropriation of nature have been conducted within the context of zoos, aquariums, natural history museums, and urban green spaces. I utilized artistic techniques, including collage, performativity, and fact and fiction, to gather components from the pictures of prominent natural landscape photographers like Ansel Adams. 
    These techniques were then applied to produce a series of animations and a derivative installation.

In 1816, the eruption of Tambora volcano in Indonesia caused a phenomenon known as "Year Without a Summer". This leads to global temperature decreases, creates extreme weather conditions and changed the sky color to reddish and orange, which was caused by the ash and sulfur dioxide released.
    This event had a significant impact on the natural world. The unusual sky color during that year had a profound effect on the way people lived, it also captured the attention of many artists and scientists who recorded the impact of the sky color on nature.
    People often find red sunset skies to be beautiful and desirable, but in 1816, the red sky was a result of a natural disaster that caused destruction and hardship. I alter the sky color to reflect on the impact of environmental issues on our natural world. This project aims to raise awareness about the long-term consequences of human actions on the environment and the delicate balance of nature.

An on going project explores the idea of embracing the fluidity of identities, memories, displacements and boundaries in the context of an East Asian multicultural background.