Chris Jordan:
Intolerable Beauty
How hard is it to take an “ugly” photo? Former corporate lawyer turned photographer Chris Jordan is certainly trying. For many years, he’s been looking through his lens at the destructive power of our culture and global mass consumption.
Chris documented devastation following Hurricane Katrina and visited Midway Island for photo and video projects about plastic pollution responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of seabirds.
His TED Talk, “Turning Powerful Stats into Art,” has received more than 1.7 million views and his documentary ALBATROSS is currently available as free public artwork and screening all over the world.
Chris’s heartbreaking art inspires viewers to reflect on the consequences of convenience and the effects of our collective consumption habits, elevating his work into environmental activism.
So exactly how hard is it to take an “ugly” photo? Chris says it can’t be done. Even while photographing heaps of discarded electronics, Chris sees that beauty permeates everything in our world.
Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Chris Jordan about how to find hope and beauty amidst despair and learn more about his exhibition “Intolerable Beauty,” on view at UCR’s Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts in downtown Riverside through January 2020.
More from this episode:
- Finding grace through waste in ‘Intolerable Beauty’ (UCR News)
- Chris Jordan: Intolerable Beauty (UCR Arts)
- Turning Powerful Stats into Art (TED Talk)
- Chris Jordan website
- Albatross, the film