Daniel Kukla

The Edge Effect, 2012 by Daniel Kukla_

"In March of 2012, I was awarded an artist's residency by the United States National Park Service in southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park. While staying in the Park, I spent much of my time visiting the borderlands of the park and the areas where the low Sonoran desert meets the high Mojave desert. While hiking and driving, I caught glimpses of the border space created by the meeting of distinct ecosystems in juxtaposition, referred to as the Edge Effect in the ecological sciences. To document this unique confluence of terrains, I hiked out a large mirror and painter’s easel into the wilderness and captured opposing elements within the environment. Using a single visual plane, this series of images unifies the play of temporal phenomena, contrasts of color and texture, and natural interactions of the environment itself." -  Daniel Kukla. See more;

There is a short interview about this project at guernica mag.

Captive Landscapes

"We, as humans, go to great lengths to satisfy our desire for a connection with the natural world, especially in our interactions with wild and exotic animals. Zoos are the primary site for this relationship, but they often obscure the conflicts inherent in maintaining and displaying captive wild animals. In this series, I photographed the interiors of animal enclosures at 12 different zoos across the U.S and Europe. These images invite the viewer to question the role of these constructed habitats, and explore the motivations behind collecting, preserving, and controlling the natural world." -  Daniel Kukla.

via | Kenmat