​Nate Swift

“Welcome to UTOPIA – a world much different from your own. Mother Nature has provided us with everything we need, and so much more, as long as we take care of her; is this the same in your world? Here, nature takes priority because not only does it provide us with the essentials for living, but it’s been around for so much longer than we have”

UTOPIA is a series that highlights the natural beauty of the world in which we live through observation, light and movement, captured with double and long exposure methods to enhance the state of natural beauty. Human life began so long ago, yet we have survived, through the fruit of Mother Nature’s labour – but what have we given her in return? Oil spills, a hole in the o-zone layer, AI data centres with high carbon emissions and massive water consumption; none of this feels like an act of love. UTOPIA depicts a world in which nature comes first, in order to emphasise the lack of appreciation for the beauty that’s constantly surrounding us, whilst helping us to breathe, eat and drink – if nature goes, we go down with it.

We must return to our natural state by abandoning our dependency on technology. We must admit that there is a mass phone addiction crisis, because if we’re stuck glued to our screens, how are we supposed to engage with our reality and stand up for the planet that’s given us an opportunity at life? Would you rather live in an online world where there’s never a second of peace, or would you rather make peace in the real world that we have always been a part of?