2.5 SECONDS

Conceptual Artist Anya Anti discusses her art series shining a light on climate change

Words By Bec Doyle | June 15th 2021

In a project that spanned 3 years from its inception to completion, New York based conceptual artist Anya Anti created a series of artworks to bring awareness to the current dire situation of climate change, entitled 2.5 Seconds. Inspired by the beauty, and to an extent, the untouched landscape of Iceland, Anya set out to capture the stunning locations, juxtaposed by the nightmarish environmental crisis she conveys in each image, through the use of subjects, costume, props, photography and photoshop.

Anya considered the damage human impact has caused on our beautiful planet in the short amount of time in which we have inhabited it. This notion led her to the title 2.5 Seconds. “It comes from the idea that planet earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old and mankind is about 140 thousand years old, so if you imagine and compress the earth's existence into 24 hours, and do the math, humanity has been on this planet for 2.5 seconds.”

After her first visit to the stunning Nordic island nation of Iceland, Anya says she realized the fragility of nature and felt a strong urge to protect it. The idea of the beauty she had witnessed not being around long enough for future generations to experience, had a huge impact on her. She says, “I decided first of all to make changes to my lifestyle, live more sustainably, simple things like not buying water in plastic bottles - Try to minimize your footprint as much as you can. And then I decided it's time to use my work, my voice as a photographer, to make a difference.” Subsequent visits to Iceland served as research and location scouting to plan the epic undertaking of the 9 piece art series.

I decided first of all to make changes to my lifestyle, live more sustainably, simple things like not buying water in plastic bottles - Try to minimize your footprint as much as you can.

Extreme Weather

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Bringing the series to life was not short of challenges. Anya says, “I spent the first year coming up with the concept. Doing research and sketches. Then I was trying to raise money on kickstarter for the project. I failed, which is ok. I raised 40% of what I was hoping to raise, so it was all refunded back to the people. Then I was able to find sponsors.” With leading image and electronics companies; ChromaLuxe, B&H and Outex stepping up to the plate, Anya was able to make her vision a reality. “It took a few months to prepare for the trip, book everything, and find the model. Make all the costumes and all the props.” In the Summer of 2019 the small team which consisted of Anya, her husband and model Anna Psy, spent 10 days in Iceland to capture all the images. And, after what she describes as the busiest year of her life, when the pandemic hit Anya was able to slow down, affording her the necessary time needed to thoughtfully and carefully complete the series. “Every single image has its own behind the scenes video, I was able to do screen capture of me editing and do time speed edits for those behind the scenes videos.”

Observing each piece, I am personally overwhelmed with emotions. The power of these images is undeniable. They tell the story of a future without the basic freedoms we are lucky to have been blessed with on our planet. Freedoms that some may take for granted; Fresh air, Clean water, a safe placeto live. They tell a story of destruction that threatens our very existence. They tell the story of the environment and wildlife severely affected by capitalist, money hungry, corporations polluting the planet at an exponential rate. Each image represents the damage that can already be found in numerous locations around the globe. The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” floating between California and Hawaii, twice the size of Texas, consisting of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of trash. The Devastating climate change related fires in Australia, in 2019, that destroyed 72,000 square miles of land, flora and fauna, that took at least 34 human lives and left billions of animals dead, some driven to extinction. Air quality, so bad in countries like China and India, caused by energy use and agriculture, that has led to over 6 million air-pollution related deaths yearly. One of the leading causes of climate change; Deforestation, the clearing of forests for timber and agriculture, mainly cattle, is contributing to excessive amounts of harmful greenhouses gasses.

I just hope that as an artist I can make a difference, and maybe at least a few people will stop, read about it and become more curious. I think that's a success..

“I just hope that as an artist I can make a difference, and maybe at least a few people will stop, read about it and become more curious. I think that's a successIt's not too late for us to make a change. To reverse the damage we have done in a mere “2.5 Seconds”, a blink of an eye compared to the billions of years our planet has existed. This is what Anya hopes to achieve through her thought provoking and emotive art series. “I just hope that as an artist I can make a difference, and maybe at least a few people will stop, read about it and become more curious. I think that's a success.. Of course these changes are not going to happen overnight. It's going to take years. My hope is that people will start to participate in the change.”

Anya Discusses a few of her artworks:

Global Warming

Melting planet prop Aleah Michele Ford from @moth.on.the.wall Sponsor : ChromaLuxe B&H Photo Video Pro Audio

“It's kind of a highlight of the project for me and it's also a self portrait, so it makes it a little more personal.. It's called Global Warming. I'm holding a custom made prop that looks like a melting planet. I Commissioned the artist, Aleah Michele, to make it for me, she hand painted it and then I also retouched it in photoshop to make it more realistic. The same artist made a gas mask for me, with the plant inside (for ‘Pollution”).”

Glacier Melt

Sponsors ChromaLuxe Support B&H Photo Video Pro Audio Idea, costume, style, makeup Anya Anti Model Anna Psy

“I have one model, like my muse, she actually dyed her hair blue for that trip. She was like do you want me to do something with my hair. And I was like well if you want to. I said maybe blue tapes and she went full on and dyed her hair, which is why I chose her, she's super passionate and willing to do anything for the shot. We shot it on Diamond Beach. It's located next to the glacier lagoon. Basically it's a melting glacier and because it melting created this pool of water, lagoon, and pieces of ice continue to chip off and drift into the ocean and are then washed ashore. Its a Volcanic island so the sand is black, so when they wash ashore to the beach, they look like diamonds on the black sand, that's why it is called Diamond Beach. So again I had this location specifically in mind when I created this concept. The idea of my subject being a representation of a melting glacier, and she's surrounded by these ice pieces. Again I made this costume myself. This image was probably the most difficult or challenging from the whole project. I wanted to create this costume that looked like melting ice and ice crystals, but at the same time make it look like it's not a piece of clothing, but rather this creature being covered in these ice pieces. I used tulle fabric to create the top and used acrylic crystals of different sizes and shapes, and I hot glued them to the fabric. I used nude colored tulle to create the illusion of being nude and nude colored tights, and glued those crystals on the legs. Then I created a loose skirt with just a few crystals to not overload it and keep it simple. It looked nude without being naked. The last step was for me to create the water drops, I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to create it. And then I saw Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala with her melting costume and that's where I got my inspiration from. I was like this is perfect, exactly what I was looking for. So I searched online for acrylic teardrop beads and sewed them onto the sleeves of the top. It was not as pretty as it looks in the picture but it was good enough for me to later retouch and make it smooth. I removed stitches and borders where the fabric meets her skin. I still have it, I'm pretty sure it's still in good shape. The shooting part was difficult, as we were right next to the glacier, right next to the ocean. It was freezing, rain and wind, and my model was half naked, wearing a bodysuit under that costume - because I didn't want her to be naked. I sprayed her hair to make it look frosty. It was like 40 degrees fahrenheit. That's another reason why I chose this model, she was amazing, she was like my soldier, my warrior woman, she didn't even blink an eye. She was standing there freezing, willing to do anything for the art - l love her, she's very passionate and dedicated. I was super fast because everyone was freezing, like 15 - 20 minutes. But I did quite a bit of editing after.”

Deforestation

Concept, style/dress Anya Anti Self-portrait Sponsors ChromaLuxe Support B&H Photo Video Pro Audio

“I love them all. The most popular one, that got the most feedback from people is called “Deforestation”. My subject, which is me again, standing in a green moss dress, half burned. The concept represents deforestation and forest degradation. I'm surrounded by moss and the dark dense patch symbolizes the destruction of the forest. I made the dress myself. I used a second hand ball gown that I got from a thrift store. And I got several rolls of moss from an arts and craft store. It's real dry moss. I stitched the moss on top like new fabric, it took me several nights to finish it. I'm not a seamstress, I had no idea what I was doing. It was just intuition I guess! I'm a little bit crafty and handy, so I can make things. But I'm not like a designer or seamstress, no! I retouched it a little in photoshop so it's a little prettier than it actually is. I mean it was still beautiful. I posted it on my stories and people were like wow how are you going to get it to Iceland, just with check-in luggage. I was worried I was going to ruin it completely. But I just folded it a few times, put it in a bag and squeezed it into my suitcase. I was prepared to have to fix it on location but surprisingly it didn't cause too much damage. So it was totally fine. I actually brought it back, I have it in my closet now.”

Plastic Pollution

Model Anna Psy Sponsors ChromaLuxe Support B&H Photo Video Pro Audio

Plastic Pollution

Model Savannah Harley Special thanks to Outex Sponsors ChromaLuxe

“This represents plastic pollution in the ocean, because we use so much plastic, especially single use. Unfortunately only 10% gets recycled, the other 90% ending up in our oceans. A mind blowing statistic. It's Estimated that 8 million tons of plastic waste enters our ocean every single day. I wanted to create the jellyfish, being representative of the ocean marine life that has been affected by plastic pollution. Marine life is being killed by ingesting the plastic, the chemicals, being caught up in plastic. Its estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans, if we don't change anything. This was shot on the black sand beach. I had a very specific idea in mind - I wanted to create this jellyfish made of plastic and the model kind of touching it. What I did, cause I stopped buying drinks in plastic bottles, I asked my friends and followers to donate their plastic. The day before the photoshoot we glued all the recycled plastic to a transparent umbrella to create the shape of the jellyfish. The only thing I did in photoshop was to give the jellyfish a little bit more shape, and created the trail of plastic bottles behind the model. duplicating the bottles already in the image - same goes for the one where the model is fishing with the split water shot. Showing the idea that there's going to be more plastic than the fish. It was the only image I didn't shoot in Iceland - I wanted to, but was not able to because of scheduling. And the ocean is way too cold in Iceland to achieve the shot safely. It was two different shoots in two different locations. I shot the top part first, I used an underwater case for my camera, I rented a pool and I shot the water and plastics floating in the water. I Used one plastic bag and photographed it in different positions for that shot and I composited it later in photoshop.”

Sea Level Rise

Sponsors ChromaLuxe Support B&H Photo Video Pro Audio Model Anna Psy

“Sea levels flooding the coastal cities and coastal regions” I shot this in an open outdoor swimming pool, surrounded by mountains. Its open to the public and free, and it's filled with hot water - it's a famous tourist attraction. The building you see in the background is actually a changing room for the hot springs. What I usually do with my work is ALWAYS try to build props and set designs and use as much as possible on set instead of photoshopping everything and compositing everything. So usually it's a mix of both props, set design and photoshop compositing. I spray painted a piece of cardboard that was a stand-in for a rooftop and used that as my starting point to create the building, the flooded building. And I used the pool to later extend in photoshop, make it like a flooded area.”

Greenhouse Gasses

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Pollution

Sponsors ChromaLuxe Support B&H Photo Video Pro Audio Model Ksenia Ice Assistant Anna Psy Evgeniy Yavtushenko Gas mask and tank prop Aleah Michele Ford