Lost Landscapes
March 6 – 29, 2025
Lost Landscapes features recent work by contemporary fine art photographers Debra Achen and Charlotta María Hauksdóttir. The exhibition brings into focus the profound impacts of climate change and the relentless erosion of time on the environment. Experiencing nature has a positive impact on the human body, mind, and soul. It is both a biological and spiritual connection as well as symbiotic, in that human interactions leave impacts and impressions on the environment. So far in the Anthropocene, we have not proven ourselves worthy stewards of our planet. Achen and Hauksdóttir tell this story by hand-manipulating their prints using a variety of techniques. The tension between the beauty of the landscape superimposed with growing environmental threats becomes the basis for a call to action.
Both artists use layering and collage as a means of juxtaposing images in their work. Achen folds, tears, and scorches her photographs, overlaying the lushness and vitality of healthy ecosystems with the devastating aftermath of droughts, burn scars, and atmospheric river events. By stitching together pieces of the collaged images, she presents a metaphor for our role in mending the damage done. With her photo-sculpture series The Cost of Soft she brings to light the environmental impacts of our daily consumption and how our everyday choices make a difference.
Hauksdóttir hand-cuts her multi-layered prints and adds elements of human patterns such as fingerprints, veins, and brain circuits to represent our connection to the environment as well as our impact on it. Her three-dimensional books expand to reveal the complex layers of evolution, growth, and resilience of nature. Other pieces incorporate text about global warming or black fabric to symbolize areas of accelerated land erosion. She also enfolds photographs around branches that she then intertwines to convey a hopeful outcome with proactive human intervention.
The goal of Lost Landscapes is to raise awareness about the crisis of our time and inspire viewers to actively participate in finding solutions. By fostering a sense of urgency and stewardship, Achen and Hauksdóttir aim to engage the audience and empower individuals to contribute to the healing of our planet.
Charlotta María Hauksdóttir
My work seeks to invoke contemplation about our relationship with nature and the intricate interplay between humanity and the environment. For two decades, I’ve photographed landscapes of my native Iceland, witnessing firsthand the impacts of climate change. This ongoing project is a visual articulation of these changes and our impact on the natural world.
In the handmade three-dimensional pieces, parts of nature have been hollowed out, and the photographs layered, mimicking physical features of the landscape, with various cuts and shapes evoking different connotations.
Incorporating templates of human biological patterns—such as fingerprints resembling tree rings and retinal veins echoing roots—reinforces the deep connection between us and nature. The missing sections of the photographs invite reflection on the imprints we leave on the world. Layering altered images on black fabric underscores the fragility of nature and the ongoing erosion caused by climate change, while text addressing global warming serves as a poignant reminder of the challenges we face.
Sculptures in the form of tunnel books become narrative devices, drawing viewers into an unfolding scene with each layer revealing more of the landscape. The progression reflects on our relationship with the land and evokes contemplation about the possibilities for restoration and harmony.
Nature’s resilience is also a source of inspiration. Drawing from the persistence of life growing from concrete cracks, I cut and layer photographs in a similar pattern. Those pieces signify renewal and hope, a visual testament to nature’s remarkable ability to endure. By intertwining branches wrapped with photographs, I weave together elements of the landscape, encapsulating both the devastation wrought upon nature and the potential for proactive human intervention.
Charlotta María Hauksdóttir (Icelandic, she/her/hers) is an award winning visual artist based in California, incorporating photography, collage and mixed media in her work. Residing in the USA for over 20 years, she still draws inspiration from her home country Iceland. Her work centers around the unique connection one has to places, and how memories embody and elevate those connections. Hauksdóttir received a BA in Photography from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, Italy and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She also holds a Diploma in Creative and Critical Thinking from the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Hauksdóttir’s work has been exhibited around the world, with solo exhibitions in the United States, Russia, and Iceland. Venues include, Center for Photographic Art, Berkeley Art Center, Reykjavik Museum of Photography, National Museum of Iceland, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and Marin Museum of Contemporary Art. She has also been invited to participate in photography festivals in China, Portugal, Scotland, Uruguay, Kuala Lumpur, Zurich and Spain. Her photographs have been published in several magazines and books, including a monograph A Sense of Place – Imprints of Iceland that is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, SFMOMA, and Princeton. Public and private collections holding her work include Stanford Health Care, Reykjavik Museum of Photography, Genentech, Fidelity Investments and the Fairmont Banff Springs.
