My project is titled Holographic Nature. This series challenges commonly held beliefs about how the universe is constructed and experienced. The holographic principle suggests everything—objects, people, geography—is simply information contained on a two-dimensional plane. This plane appears as the multi-dimensional reality we experience. My images represent nature as a synthesis of the two-dimensional boundary and our perception of reality. I illustrate the boundary by stretching images to emphasize their flat quality, and layer them with images of our visible reality. Each individual work illustrates multiple image states—similar to how nature is constantly in flux, and how indestructible quantum particles exist in multiple states at the same time. Monitors are used to convey that not only could the universe be holographic in nature, but also a simulation.
A common misconception about the holographic principle is that means that the world literally is hologram but it’s actually a statement about how the world is constructed. A hologram creates a seemingly 3-D image from a 2-D surface, which is why the holographic principle got its name.
This all began back in the 70’s with black holes. Stephen Hawking created an amazing equation that combined quantum physics, the theory of relativity, and information. This equation describes what would happen to an object when it reaches the singularity, or the center, of a black hole. He thought that the information needed to construct the object disappeared, leaving only the energy. This sparked a lot of debate with experts because Hawking’s idea violated the foundation of physics—that information cannot be destroyed. This would create a lot of paradoxes in physics.
After many years of debate, Gerard t’ Hooft proposed the holographic principle, and it was developed further by Leonard Susskind. They found that when an object crosses the event horizon which is the 2-D boundary around the black hole a copy of objects information is stored on the boundary of the black hole well the physical object is lost inside theoretically it is possible to reconstruct that object using the data on the 2D spatial boundary. The space inside a black hole works the same way space outside a black hole would work, and the math checks out. So it is possibly our reality is something like a hologram. As it is a new theory, the small details are still being debated about today.
I think the holographic principle is important because quantum mechanics could be the key to humanity’s success in the future. I want to get people interested in or at least aware of the fact that reality as they experience it is not concrete and stable, but always changing. The ideas that I’m exploring are representative of something that might not matter in day to day life, but critical to the progression of humanity as a species.
The medium I have chosen to represent my ideas about the holographic principle is photography. Photography appears to capture reality most accurately, compared to other traditional art forms. It is a medium closely tied to the idea of truth as evidenced in its use in court, as sources of historical knowledge, and as documentation of events and people in the news. That is why I find the medium so fitting to express my ideas about an uncertain reality. Manipulating photographs opens the doors for possibilities, like how reality could be manipulated or how it could be constructed.
My digital practice is based in discovery through experimental fieldwork. I journey to different locations where nature thrives and there is little industrial disturbance. I’ve been to Wintergarden, Fuller Preserve, Slippery Elm Trail, Wildwood Park, Black Swamp Preserve, Bradner Preserve, Adam Phillips Pond, Carter Historical Farm. There is something dreamlike about the experience of being completely immersed in nature with civilization nowhere in sight. My thoughts drift to theories about the holographic universe as I document my experience with my camera. It is challenging not to get lost in the moment, because I have to remember my way back out. When I return to my computer, I start with a base image. The image reveals to me what it needs, and I search through other images looking to fulfill it. Finding the right images involves a combination of intuition and risk taking. An image is complete when it strikes a delicate balance between familiarity and implausibility.
