Carrie & Eric Tomberlin

Sea Level Rise: Visualizing Climate Change

Carrie and Eric Tomberlin (US)

It is difficult to trust what one cannot see. Scientists implore us to act now to stop climate change from destroying the planet, but data is invisible and change is slow and does not impact everyone equally. Having photographed environmental issues for many years, Carrie and Eric find the images of climate change to be limited due to the gradual and elusive nature of the problem. For several years they have been working on a new kind of photography the artists call time distillation. This new paradigm allows them to collect a range of time and collapse it into panoramic space which they later distill into a singular allegorical narrative that has the potential to express a more complex story than a singular photographic image. This process parallels environmental issues in that it is the accumulation of time that reveals the gravity of the situation more clearly than any individual moment. To best visualize this issue, Carrie and Eric travelled to Bangladesh, which is considered by the international scientific community to be amongst the world’s most vulnerable populations to the effects of climate change. Though Bangladesh faces seemingly insurmountable challenges, they are not merely coping, but adapting with resilience and ingenuity utilizing community-based adaptations. In doing so, they provide an example of taking action on a local, national, and international level to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Much of what Bangladesh is learning can be applied to other highly populated areas at or near sea level such as Miami, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Amsterdam. Carrie and Eric’s ultimate hope is that better visuals will lead to greater trust and therefore action.

Various artworks of the artist were exhibited at the National Museum of Finland, Korjaamo Culture Factory, Kaapeli, Pyhän Birgitan puisto, and JCDecaux Finland.

© Carrie and Eric Tomberlin, Flooded Brick Factory, Ashulia (half image 1/2), 2018

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Carrie Tomberlin is an artist and educator based in Asheville, North Carolina. Carrie currently teaches photography and visual culture at the University of North Carolina Asheville where she serves as Gallery Director and Lecturer of Art. Prior to her career as an educator, she worked with several non-profit organizations including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Eric Tomberlin has lived and worked as a freelance photographer, artist, and educator in California, New York, Texas, Washington, and India. Eric received his MFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently an Associate Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina Asheville.

© Carrie and Eric Tomberlin, Flooded Brick Factory, Ashulia (half image 2/2), 2018