Undeniably altered by humanity

When we affect the climate, there is no more untouched wilderness. I found that so strange that an area could be two things at once—the very definition of human intervention and also virgin wilderness. It occupies both in our minds and that’s complicated.—Beau Carey

Beau Carey painted the Arctic for his series, Rise, which was recently featured in a show, HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts, at 516 ARTS in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Painting on location in Denali National Park, AK, and in Svalbard in the Arctic, he captures the dichotomy of these beautiful, vast spaces: they might appear untouched to the human eye, and yet, the Arctic is warming faster that anywhere else on Earth due to human-caused climate change.