About Last Seen

 

Last Seen is a collection of photographs that have been taken at the last place a species was seen in the wild before going extinct. Through extensive research lists of extinct species have been translated into visual context in order to create a photographic reference. Some of the research has led to re-tracing the footsteps of explorers who witnessed and documented the decline and destruction of a particular species. The images in Last Seen serve as a memorial. The photographs themselves are data made visible a visceral connection between the lost species and humanity. The time period covered in Last Seen is the current period of geologic time, the Holocene, Late Quaternary Period, or Sub Atlantic period, which dates from about 1500ce. The Holocene Epoch spans the time that humans have occupied the planet and considers the effect that humans have had on the earth and its inhabitants since the rise of civilization.