Jamey Stillings

Changing Perspectives: Energy in the American West is a long-term project surveying renewable energy development. The first phase began in late 2010, with a flight over the future site of Ivanpah Solar in California's Mojave Desert. The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar became a four-year look at what is now the...
Changing Perspectives: Energy in the American West is a long-term project surveying renewable energy development. The first phase began in late 2010, with a flight over the future site of Ivanpah Solar in California's Mojave Desert. The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar became a four-year look at what is now the world's largest concentrated solar power plant. Completed in 2014, Ivanpah Solar has the capacity to produce 392 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 140,000 American homes. In October, Steidl will release The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar, with a foreword by Robert Redford, an introduction by Anne Wilkes Tucker, and an environmental essay by Bruce Barcott. Changing Perspectives builds upon the Ivanpah Solar work by expanding my look at energy development. While the main focus of this project continues to be utility-scale renewable energy, the significant impacts of fossil fuel energy production will also be an important area of concentration. In our inexorable quest for energy to meet the growing demands of a consumption-dependent culture, we are transforming our natural, rural, and urban landscapes. The need to examine such transformations with an aesthetic and critical eye is compelling and necessary. To think consciously about the decisions we make, or have imposed upon us, we need to see these changes. As an artist, aerial photography is a principal component of my work. I explore perspectives distinct from those found on earth's surface, revealing information and insight otherwise concealed. Ultimately, the issues surrounding energy production are global in nature. Renewable energy projects are being built around the world at a remarkable pace. Over the next several years, I will transform Changing Perspectives into a project of global scale. By observing contemporary changes in energy development, I strive to create imagery that is relevant both to our present-day collective consciousness and to an eventual historical perspective of this era on Earth.
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#9499, 21 March 2013, Ivanpah Solar
#10006, 25 June 2013, Ivanpah Solar
#11039, 4 September 2013, Ivanpah Solar
#17203, 24 September 2014, Ivanpah Solar
#4075, 26 June 2014, Crescent Dunes Solar
#3540, 26 June 2014, Crescent Dunes Solar
#4185, 26 June 2014, Crescent Dunes Solar
#8190, 19 February 2015, Desert Sunlight
#8170, 19 February 2015, Desert Sunlight
#7894, 19 February 2015, Desert Sunlight