Through commercial media, American society has been subjected to the pervasive use of fear. My ongoing body of work explores fear of environmental apocalypse. Stemming from interaction with the media, what I pick up, what I’m bombarded with and what I see in between, the news on television in turn changes and challenges my ideology and beliefs, producing fears of an imagined dark tomorrow while creating anxieties for survival. I wasn’t sure where my anxiety and fear were coming from until I thought about media images and how those images in turn, play, treat, and react to the ecological climate crisis. In contemporary history, many artists and writers work are reactions influenced by fear. This fear has been caused by war, inhumanity, and destructive treatment toward nature in their lifetime. I use my art to express the feelings of today’s youth and thus create a folk tale of people’s feelings on the 21st century climate change crisis.

Official Portfolio of Fine Art Photographer Matthew Cylinder.