watercrawler

i saw this photo, "Watercrawler" by Mary Mattingly, on Hippolyte Bayard's blog, and i love it.

as Eric Gelber describes in an essay on her website, "Mattingly uses digital photography to create images of a world she believes humans will one day live in. Her imaginings are based on current scientific beliefs, which she imaginatively builds upon."

i like the science fiction ideas in her work a lot even if some of the fantastical images don't particularly grab me.

on the subjects themselves, Gelber writes: "People in these photographs are completely inward. They don’t address the viewer or other people within the frame and they are completely absorbed by the imaginary devices Mattingly has equipped them with. They cling to them as they wander around the barren landscape or tinker with them in a complete state of absorption. Figures are half submerged in water, are plunged in a dense wall of fog or are completely alone on a desolate shoreline. Their facial expressions are blank. There is no room for angst or despair in this futurologist’s vision."