Sara Press’s Earth

Sara Press, Earth, 2023, altered letterpress printed textbook, charcoal drawings, and archival inkjet prints, 9 x 11.5 x 2 in., Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. Image via Deeply Game.

Introduction

At a first glance, Earth by Sara Press may look like a prototypical history or geology textbook. One might imagine that its pages are filled with mostly dry rhetoric or a highly technical analysis of Earth and its formation. However, once the book is opened, it is a truly immersive and eye opening experience. The author is able to fully encapsulate the planet’s history in a captivating manner that keeps the reader drawn in by blending elements of the past with current day scientific and technological understanding. Furthermore, the book intricately combines documentary analysis with artistic expression to create a fusion that evokes a deep emotional response in the reader, particularly towards the impending threat of humanity upon the environment. This response is deeply rooted in the sheer magnitude of loss and pain that the work evokes, leaving the reader with an extensive sense of urgency directed towards protecting the beauty and fragility of the Earth and its ecosystems. 

Visual Analysis

Earth is stored in a custom grey clamshell box meant to protect the text from dust, light, and other damaging elements. Opening the clamshell box reveals Earth, a beige colored textbook with red lettering detailing the name Earth on both the front and the spine of the book. At the center of the book cover, the author chose to incorporate a square design composed of circulating red lines with a depiction of planet Earth in the middle. Planet Earth is split open granting the viewer a direct line of sight into its reddish interior layers on the left side of the cover and a depiction of North and South America on the right side. The fore edge of the book was noticeably sculpted and painted to resemble jagged layers of sedimentary rock beneath the planet’s surface. The dimensions of the book are 9 x 11.5 x 2 inches which roughly equates to around the size of a large photo album or artbook. Upon opening the book, its first seven pages are letterpress printed leaving a textured impression that the reader can feel as they flip through the text. The letterpress printed section is then followed by several charcoal drawings and a few inkjet prints depicting fossils from distinct prehistoric time periods. These depictions are each followed by a description of the time period they belonged to which details the period’s length and environmental circumstances. 

Delano Savage, Charcoal drawing featured in Earth by Sara Press, 2023, charcoal on paper, 9 x 11.5 inches, Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. Image via Deeply Game.

Background and Creator

The creator of this work, Sara Press, is a printmaker and photographer known for her ability to create artistic books that combine both textual and visual iconography. The book was originally published by Frank Press, a world renowned geophysicist and science advisor of President Carter, with the goal of addressing the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Frank Press released his work to the public in 1982 during a period of increasing scientific worry and speculation regarding climate change. Sara Press’s addition to the book can be understood as a palimpsest or an act of layering on top of an artifact that already exists in order to give it new meaning. Fast forward to 2023 and this book furthers Frank Press’s message, serving as an update to his life’s work. Earth calls attention to the short and long term implications surrounding climate change and mass extinctions, signaling to the reader that all living things on the planet are at risk due to the actions of humanity. Additionally, Press includes current signals of climate change within the text such as the large-scale loss of biodiversity due to global warming and the increasingly lethal wildfires that ravage California. Press’s additions to the work concur with the interpretations made by environmental historians J.R. McNeil and Peter Engelke in The Great Acceleration.¹ The Great Acceleration recounts post-1945 human history, detailing the unprecedented increase in fossil fuel use and consumption that has negatively impacted the planet. Press is able to amplify the concerns emphasized in this work not through the sole repetition of data and records, but through the power of artistic representation. 

Weather and Extinction

One of the most prominent features of this book comes in the latter section, which focuses on weather and mass extinction. Sara Press carefully describes the events that occurred during several mass extinctions hundreds of millions of years before humans even walked the Earth. Each event is prefaced by an intricate charcoal drawing typically detailing one or more of the major life forms that had taken over the planet and are now going extinct. For instance the first event being referenced is the current extinction event or the Holocene Extinction which details the large number of animal extinctions that are being caused by humanity due to industrialization and pollution. The main animal being referenced, visible to the right, is the wooly mammoth which is thought to have gone extinct both due to overhunting by early humans and increasing global temperatures. Additionally, Earth mentions another period familiar to many, the End-Cretaceous period, which accounts for the death of the dinosaurs following a large meteor impact. The descriptions of these periods symbolize the fragility of life and the extremely powerful environmental forces that surround it. Each extinction event documented in Earth is directly related to weather, which Press contextualizes as a force that not only constantly shapes the world around us, but has the power to end it. This framing is similarly present in Mike Hulme’s Why We Disagree About Climate Change where he argues that climate change is a cultural problem, not just a scientific one.² He suggests that this problem can be aided through the use of “creative deployment.” Earth serves as a prime example of this as it actively instills feelings of guilt and grief within the reader to elicit a response, rather than a seemingly simple solution to climate change. 

Interpretation

Instead of just analyzing geological and fossil events independently, this work guides the reader towards deeper questions such as: How can the effects of extinction and weather events be amplified through art? What kind of message can art evoke in the reader? The artist’s decision to display fossils on a charcoal surface could be especially significant. Charcoal is innately formed from organic matter being intensely compressed under the surface and enduring immense heat and pressure. For this reason it could serve as a representation of the Earth itself as well as a reminder of what living things will eventually become. The jagged foredge, resembling sedimentary rock, alludes to the vast accumulation of time and how new layers are constantly forming below the Earth. Moreover, the combination of artistic expression with scientific text allows for the work to be a stimulating project for all people no matter whether they have a scientific background or not. This fusion of both textual and visual evidence draws upon conventions mentioned in Objectivity by Lorraince Datson and Peter Galison. ³The authors argue that science should not be standardized or set in stone, instead, it should be valued as an evolving process incorporating interpretation and creativity. Sara Press’s Earth resembles their concept of “trained judgment” or a model which paints interpretation as essential to the distribution of knowledge. Instead of representing extinction events as plain, boring, and data-filled, Press recounts them through the creation of a beautiful and evocative work that can emotionally affect the reader. Knowledge as described in objectivity is perfectly reflected in Earth as a blending of skill, intellect, and imagination.

Footnotes

1.  J. R. McNeill and Peter Engelke, The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945 (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016). ↩︎
2. Mike Hulme, Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction, and Opportunity (Cambridge University Press, 2009). ↩︎
3.  Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, Objectivity (Zone Books, 2007). ↩︎