The Human Signature

“The Human Signature” explores overpopulation through a series of AI-generated images depicting individuals crammed into claustrophobic scenes. It’s a reflection on the loss of identity and humanity in an indistinct mass and, ultimately, a dystopian vision of our future if we place no limits on what we are doing to the planet and ourselves. The collection stems from a work, Birth Control, that I created during the 2020 lockdown: plastic babies piled up and embedded in lime. Each figure, while representing a life and potential, dissolves into anonymity, highlighting the urgency to explore the meaning of our existence in an increasingly confined space. The title The Human Signature is borrowed from Edward Burtynsky, whose photographs document the scars left by humanity on landscapes devastated by extraction, urbanization and deforestation. The “indelible human signature” is destroying the planet. Taking cues from these images, this collection emphasizes the deterioration of the human dimension: claustrophobic and disturbing works where saturated space becomes a metaphor for our devastating impact on the Earth. More people, more product, more consumption, more waste, more pollution, less space, less work, less money, less resources, less identity... More is less. This sums up the paradox of growth and is reflected in the human landscapes of the collection that cannot offer answers, but poses necessary questions challenging the viewer to see themselves reflected in an indistinct mass, to confront the visible and invisible scars left by humanity, and to imagine a future that is not a dystopia of scarcity and conflict, but a return to balance with ourselves, the others, and the planet. "Technology might solve our problems, but it cannot solve the problem of how we live with too many people and too little soul." Ray Bradbury