French Photographer Chris Morin Eitner’s exhibition “Once Upon A Time Tomorrow” is an urgent reminder for what has been happening in the urban environment nowadays. His photography series captures the city-space around the world, defining the concrete jungle with living floral and fauna, as a form of environmental activism.
A collaboration between Institut Francais Indonesia and Bentara Budaya Jakarta, the exhibit’s mission focused on urban sustainability to keep the earth adaptable and livable. By using digital imaging techniques, Eitner showcased 29 photos of iconic cities and historical buildings including the Eiffel Tower, the Hollywood Sign, Big Ben, and the National Monument.
Eitner’s photographs were also exhibited during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. By transforming a bustling city into a natural wilderness overgrown with trees and inhabited by animals, Eitner portrays the optimism placed on future generations to take care the earth as the only one safe place for humans to live.
Inspired by French painter Henri Rousseau who frequently features landscape paintings, and the movies directed by American director Stanley Kubrik, Eitner combines each element into his photography to give a certain atmosphere and impression. To understand the issue of sustainability and human evolution, Eitner also read up on history including “On the origin of Species” by Charles Darwin.
Eitner uses iconic city buildings and monuments to provide a sense of familiarity for those who live in urban areas who are sometimes careless about the environment. He manifests the city as a source of pollution, waste, and a major cause of environmental destruction.
Through the exhibit, he reminds people that the city will be more beautiful with more living creatures, where the breeze passes through trees and where animals can live in the surrounding ecosystem.
Eitner’s photographs were also exhibited during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. By transforming a bustling city into a natural wilderness overgrown with trees and inhabited by animals, Eitner portrays the optimism placed on future generations to take care the earth as the only one safe place for humans to live.
“Currently, we can see the ecological impacts of human actions on nature without no regard for sustainability. Through this art of photography, I bring back the natural wilderness in the midst of the city because in reality, people will always need plants, animals and the universe,” he said at the opening of the exhibition.
At the special exhibition in Jakarta which ran from 11-17 April, Eitner framed Jakarta’s iconic buildings such as the National Monument (Monas) and Monumen Selamat Datang at Bundaran Hotel Indonesia. Without reflecting the human presence, Eitner shows the city-scape of Jakarta that is surrounded by lush greenery, forest, and wild rare animals so as to provide another perspective of the city itself.
Furthermore, he chose the iconic and historical buildings as a representation of the act of preservation, to ensure that it lasts for a long period of time—and to encourage people to treat the earth the same way. “There are no humans in my photographs because I imagined they have left the big city and moved to other place or found other planet to inhabit. But it should be noted that I don’t imagine the apocalypse, I envision sustainable living with a different image of city,” Eitner added.
More of Chris’ photographs can be seen on his website www.chrismorinphoto.com
