Kille
by Morgan Mueller
portfolio winners call 'Urbanautica Institute Awards 2024', 2024
Category: Nature, Environment and Perspectives
Kille (which translates to "body of water" in Middle Dutch), primarily serves as an exploration into the dynamics of two specific regions surrounding New York City and New Jersey: Newtown Creek and the Meadowlands of New Jersey. These locales are marked by significant environmental contamination, hosting numerous superfund sites and heavy-polluting industries. More notably, they also represent spaces of remarkable resilience, as evidenced by the profound care exhibited by their communities and the thriving biota that persist in these areas. Through this body of work, my objective is not solely to emphasize that these places should not be dismissed as "wastelands" or mere transitional spaces. Instead, I aim to underscore that they are teeming with life and rejuvenation. Whether through conventional landscape imagery showing a hilly region that is actually concealing a capped landfill or through documenting the process of actively reworking native plant populations back into the areas, I seek to portray the deliberate and compassionate stewardship that these locations genuinely deserve.
also from Urbanautica Institute Awards 2024