British photographer Zed Nelson will present his latest work, "The Anthropocene Illusion," at PhotoMonth London 2025, showcasing six years of photography that examines how humanity has become master of artificial experiences and staged nature while simultaneously destroying the natural world around us. The exhibition explores the paradoxical relationship between environmental destruction and our creation of reassuring spectacles and illusions of nature.
The term "Anthropocene" refers to the current geological epoch defined by humanity's profound impact on Earth's ecosystems. Since the Industrial Revolution approximately two centuries ago, our species has transformed the planet's atmosphere, geology, and biodiversity. Future geologists will find strata marked by plastic, concrete, fossil fuel residues, and radioactive isotopes – all lasting traces of human dominance over the natural world.
Despite our growing technological power, the natural world has suffered catastrophic losses, with wild animal populations declining by half over the past forty years. As humans have transitioned from rural to urban life, we have distanced ourselves from nature while continuing to desire a connection with it. This disconnect has given birth to artificial experiences of the natural world, including zoos, theme parks, indoor ski slopes, and synthetic beaches.
Nelson's work demonstrates how we stage nature to create safe and entertaining spectacles that are predictable and comfortable, stripped of danger, surprise, and change. Even national parks and ski resorts have become carefully choreographed environments – wilderness packaged for mass consumption. The result is a paradoxical disconnection: while destroying nature, we construct increasingly elaborate simulations of it.
From Disney's Animal Kingdom to Germany's Tropical Islands dome and Dubai's indoor ski slopes, we immerse ourselves in controlled versions of nature that mask the damage inflicted on the real world. Artificial snow, caged lions, and underwater ice worlds all represent our attempt to replace the wild with its replica. This estrangement from the living world has deep philosophical roots in Western traditions shaped by Aristotelian thought and Judeo-Christian ideas of human dominion over nature.
The industrial and colonial eras reinforced the belief that the natural world existed to be conquered, controlled, or consumed. Modern thinkers such as Lynn White and Bill McKibben have warned that this worldview forms the foundation of our current environmental crisis. Today, we are simultaneously creators and destroyers, masters of the planet yet unable to assume the moral and ecological consequences of our power.
Projects like Neom, the futuristic city envisioned in Saudi Arabia and presented as "a place on Earth like nowhere else," embody this illusion – a vision of limitless progress detached from any natural reality. Our survival now depends on our ability to restore our connection with the living world through rewilding, sustainable lifestyles, and ethical planetary stewardship.
The knowledge of what needs to be done already exists; what remains lacking is the will to act. The Anthropocene is not merely a geological era but also a moral test – a measure of what we choose to be as a species. Nelson's exhibition serves as both artistic documentation and urgent commentary on this critical juncture in human history.
"The Anthropocene Illusion" will be displayed at the Art Pavilion in Mile End Park from October 15-26, 2025. Additional information is available through PhotoMonth.co.uk and the organization's Instagram account.
