Repurposed billboard east of Salina, Kansas on I-70 7/13/2014 - 1:40 PM
Unearthed razor blade. Overland Park, Kansas 6/11/2016 - 10:30 AM
North Buckley Avenue, Abilene, Kansas 12/28/2017 - 12:03 PM
Construction site of a wastewater treatment plant. Lawrence, Kansas 2/15/2016 - 2:08 PM
Asphalt at Penny's Ready Mix. Lawrence, Kansas 12/17/2016 - 2:34 PM
Soft drink cup with smiling star logo. Overland Park, Kansas 10/2/2015 - 3:56 PM
Flyover of the International Space Station in conjunction with a young moon and Venus. Lawrence, Kansas 1/30/2017 - 7:26 PM
Skulls on display. Dyche Hall Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, Kansas 12/18/2013 - 4:52 PM
A protest of the presidential inauguration. Kansas City, Missouri 1/20/2017 - 3:39 PM
Secretary of State Kris Kobach announces that the votes of all six electors for the state of Kansas were cast for Donald J. Trump to a chorus of boos from the gallery in the senate chamber of the statehouse. Topeka, Kansas 12/19/2016 - 1:09 PM
Construction of the South Lawrence Trafficway K-10 bypass through the Baker Wetlands. Lawrence, Kansas 1/18/2015 - 1:49 PM
The main diorama at Dyche Hall Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, Kansas 12/28/2016 - 3:31 P
Indoor skydiving. Overland Park, Kansas 12/22/2016 - 4:22 PM
A photo montage of activity under the statehouse dome during budget negations of the 2015 legislative session. 5/30/2015 Topeka, Kansas 5/30/2015 - 2:29 PM
Cellophane shrink wrap. Overland Park, Kansas 10/10/2015 - 12:57 PM
My nieces hunting for fossils. Stilwell, Kansas 12/27/2016 - 2:51 PM
Campground on the north shore of Twin Buttes Reservoir, north of Springfield, Colorado, looking southwest. 8/4/2016 - 4:32 PM
Campground on the north shore of Twin Buttes Reservoir, north of Springfield, Colorado, looking south. 8/4/2016 - 4:39 PM
A target shooter on the south bank of the Kansas river. Eudora, Kansas 3/30/2014 - 4:26 PM
Project motorcycle. Overland Park, Kansas 9/6/2013 - 12:53 PM
A discarded lounge chair in a landfill along the Kansas River east of Manhattan, Kansas. 4/1/2015 - 3:17 PM
Landfill alongside the Kansas River. Desoto, Kansas 4/6/2014 - 2:20 PM
Police activity at Kaw Point State Park. Kansas City, Kansas 3/11/2015 - 2:55 PM
Debris washed into the Kansas River by heavy rains. Lawrence, Kansas 5/24/2015 - 2:34 PM
Lavender code-colored wastewater pipe, ready for installation during construction of the K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway. Lawrence, Kansas 1/18/2015 - 3:04 PM
Interior view of lavender code-colored wastewater pipe. Lawrence, Kansas 1/18/2015 - 3:16 PM
Red plastic drinking straw. Overland Park, Kansas 10/12/2015 - 3:03-3:05 PM
Clear plastic drinking straw. Overland Park, Kansas 10/12/2015 - 3:03-3:05 PM
Blue plastic drinking straw. Overland Park, Kansas 10/12/2015 - 3:03-3:05 PM
Tail of an armadillo killed by a motor vehicle. Overland Park, Kansas 6/29/2018 - 12:19-3:28 PM
Armadillo killed by a motor vehicle. Overland Park, Kansas 6/29/2018 - 12:19-3:28 PM
Drought wrecked corn crop north of Elkhart, Kansas. 7/5/2014 - 10:57 AM
The coal pile at the Westar coal fired electric plant north of Lawrence, Kansas. 2/20/2017 - 12:52 PM
A coal train and a dust devil south of Springfield, Colorado. 7/6/2014 - 2:43 PM
The control room of the Westar Energy coal fired electric plant north of Lawrence, Kansas. 2/20/2017 - 1:12 PM
View from the top deck of the boiler and turbine house of the coal fired electric plant north of Lawrence, Kansas. 2/20/2017 - 1:31 PM
A morphine drip administration machine. Lawrence, Kansas 7/30/2013 - 6:57 PM
Railway maintenance crew training in safety orange clothing. Overland Park, Kansas 7/11/2013 - 10:33 AM
A pair of Stealth Bombers flying over Overland Park, Kansas 6/20/2018 - 5:34 PM
Costco. Lenexa, Kansas 10/6/2013 - 3:49 PM
Remington Point apartments, built by developer Mike Stultz. Lawrence, Kansas 5/14/2014 - 6:14 PM
The construction site of the Rock Chalk Stadium and sports recreation center in west Lawrence, Kansas. 5/5/2014 - 3:17 PM
The southern half of the Baker Wetlands after having been drained and bulldozed for construction of the South Lawrence Trafficway. Lawrence, Kansas 3/23/2014 - 3:14 PM
Construction of the South Lawrence Trafficway, east of Lawrence, Kansas. 4/16/2014 - 1:53 PM
The eastern half of the Baker Wetlands after having been drained and bulldozed for construction of the South Lawrence Trafficway. Lawrence, Kansas 3/23/2014 - 3:22 PM
Taxidermy sharpshin hawk. Dyche Hall Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, Kansas 12/28/2016 - 3:07 PM
Icicles hanging from the front porch of 832 East 12th Street. Lawrence, Kansas 2/10/2014 - 9:22 PM
Taxidermy song birds at Dyche Hall Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, Kansas 12/18/2013 - 4:42 PM
Targets at the Lakeview Club shooting Range. Lakeview, Kansas 10/20/2015 - 2:59 PM
Linden tree leaves skeletized by a Japanese Beetle invasion. Overland Park, Kansas 7/7/2018 - 11:17 AM
Buzzard specimen at Dyche Hall Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, Kansas 12/18/2013 - 4:46 PM
Kyle Lockhausen and his dog at Clinton Reservoir. 2/2/2014 - 1:47 PM
A paint sprayer takes a smoke break wearing his Tyvek hazmat suit. Kansas City, Kansas 2/12/2014 - 3:44 PM
Single portion takeout pizza serving tray. Overland Park, Kansas 10/22/2016 - 1:29 PM
Polypropylene bag with blue masking tape. Overland Park, Kansas 10/14/2015 - 2:59 PM
Windshield cracked by the forehead of the passenger in a contractor's equipment van. Lawrence, Kansas 4/24/2013 - 5:15 PM
Asphalt at Penny's Ready Mix. Lawrence, Kansas 12/17/2016 - 2:34 PM
Accidental wildfire in drought stricken grassland. Vinland, Kansas 3/23/2014 - 4:09 PM
Aftermath of the Anderson Creek Fire. Barber County, Kansas. 3/30/2016 - 1:41 - 1:49 PM
A coyote who expired during the Anderson Creek wildfire. Barber County, Kansas 3/30/2016 - 11:58 AM
A copse of cedar trees destroyed during the Anderson Creek wildfire. Barber County, Kansas 3/30/2016 - 10:53 AM
Ruins of a farmstead. Anderson Creek Fire. Barber County, Kansas. 3/30/2016 - 11:39 AM
Ruins of a farmstead. Anderson Creek Fire. Barber County, Kansas. 3/30/2016 - 11:39 AM
Rivers Edge scrap yard in Turner, Kansas. 5/7/2014 - 4:12 PM
The Wakarusa River south of Lawrence, Kansas. 10/3/2016 - 2:53 PM
The Kansas River seen from the K-32 Bridge at Turner, west of Kansas City. 5/7/14 - 4:02 PM
Discarded water bottle. Overland Park, Kansas 10/2/2015 - 3:59 PM
Flattened aluminum soda can. Overland Park, Kansas 11/19/2016 - 1:34 PM
On I-76, west of Ovid, Colorado 8/6/2016 - 10:54 AM
Coal train and cargo trucks. Midland, Kansas 3/17/2014 - 2:03 PM
Backside of a Trump campaign sign. Granada, Colorado 8/5/2016 - 11:44 AM
Retired attack helicopter on public display. Burlington, Colorado 8/5/2016 - 4:31 PM
A fundraiser working to rebuild a community health center, indicating flood damage that forced the clinic to close. Lawrence, Kansas 5/12/2009 - 11:35 AM
President of Alvamar Inc., standing on a dock that should be floating in Lake Alvamar. Lake levels were extremely low due to record drought. 3/18/2009-10:06 AM
Mural in a sandwich shop. Lawrence, Kansas 7/22/2013 - 1:20 PM
Abandoned piano alongside the Kansas River levee at Lawrence, Kansas. 5/29/2013 - 3:17 PM
A vacant strip mall in east Topeka, Kansas. 5/16/2014 - 2:58 PM
23rd and Louisiana Streets. Lawrence, Kansas 2/17/2014 - 6:21 PM
6th Street at Alabama Street. Lawrence, Kansas 7/27/2015 - 12:45 PM
Empty dime bag. Overland Park, Kansas 12/24/2015 - 2:01 PM
A bull snake in the Baker Wetlands. 11/17/2013 - 5:03 PM
The annual high school mud volleyball game at Broken Arrow Park in Lawrence, Kansas. 5/4/2014 - 2:20 PM
Survey tape near clearing for KP&L power line right of way. Lawrence, Kansas 3/12/2014 - 3:12 PM
Lee Kindle salvages a pickup truck destroyed by an F4 tornado in a region that had to be evacuated due to toxic mining waste near Treece, Kansas. 2/19/2009 - 2:04 PM
The Missouri River flooding highway K-7 south of White Cloud, Kansas. 3/20/2019 - 5:54 PM
The super moon rising over the Missouri River flooding the intersection of Main Street and highway K-7 at White Cloud, Kansas three hours after the vernal equinox. 3/20/2019 - 6:36 PM
The Missouri River flooding woodland south of White Cloud, Kansas. 3/20/2019 - 6:16 PM
A bird's nest with remnants of a plastic bag woven into it. Overland Park, Kansas. 6/10/2016 - 5:29 PM
Rotting pears with flies. Lawrence, Kansas. 8/28/2016 - 12:07 PM
A drowned moth floating on a private swimming pool in east Lawrence, Kansas. 8/7/2015 - 4:55 PM
Mailbox for an abandoned farmstead at Midway, Colorado. 7/5/2014 - 11:26 AM
Dense riparian underbrush alongside the Kansas River in Burcham Park. Lawrence, Kansas 7/26/2013 - 3:34 PM
Blizzard snowfall in back yard of 832 East 12th Street, Lawrence, Kansas. 2/4/2014 - 6:44 PM
Northwest of Wray, Colorado. 8/6/2016 - 12:57 PM
Eugene Hunter's garden at 13th and Pennsylvania Streets. Lawrence, Kansas 7/14/2013 - 7:47 PM
Tom Peschio holds a bird skull he found. Lawrence, Kansas 10/28/2015 - 4:28 PM
A Visual Archaeology From Eastern Kansas to the High Plains
The Holocene Era, scientists say, lasted about 12,000 years. They now say that we are in the Anthropocene: a world so radically affected by the presence and activities of human beings that this era must be named for humanity itself. This is our world - whether admiring it or deploring it, it is ours; we made it.
I see the interaction of Man and Nature across the central plains of the United States dialectically: a conversation across centuries, emblematic of global historic processes, going back to the first arrival of Europeans in the 16th century - and up to the present day, when Kansans (and everyone everywhere) have been thrust into an unknowable and foreboding future.
I look at the land that is my home, and with increasing frequency see "improvements" that are detractions... "additions" that are removals... "development" that is destruction. The conversation has turned ugly.
It is considered impolite to speak of these conditions, an insult to the endeavors of our forebears, fellow citizens, neighbors, even a kind of self-loathing. Meanwhile, the water in our rivers and streams is toxic.
We have an abundance of dazzling amusements; the spectacle of popular culture, professionalized athletics, technological novelties, jets, jet-skis, all-terrain vehicles, fast food, highly sophisticated firearms, mind altering drugs, opulent religion. To be circumspect of this abundance is to be a killjoy.
R. Buckminster Fuller said, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." Yet, our landfills are overflowing with obsolete models. The existing reality is one of accelerating innovation. Never were more things that aren't broken being fixed. There can be no technologically improved
replacement for a particular forest, wetland, watershed, topsoil or climate. The existing reality is consuming, destroying these things, upon which all life depends.
Is there a way out of this? If there is, the first step would be to clearly, fearlessly see what is being wrought. These photographs are my attempt to learn to do just that.
Philip Heying