Invasive species -non-indigenous species (e.g. plants or animals) that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically.

Homo sapiens - the only surviving hominid; species to which modern man belongs; bipedal primate having language and ability to make and use complex tools; brain volume at least 1400 cc. All humans now living belong to the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens. The closest living relative of Homo sapiens is the chimpanzee.

People who call Juneau home should without a doubt celebrate our fortunes. Here a bipedal primate can leave work and in five minutes be surrounded by trees and mountains. Here is a place where access to the ocean and all of its bounty is readily accessible. We eat fresh crab, salmon, and halibut all summer long. Deer fill out the space in our freezers somehow not occupied by seafood. Ptarmigan hooting from treetops beckon us to shoot. In Juneau people live in such close proximity to wildlife that a bear season never passes without personal encounters with bears. Our town of such moderate population can boast of mountains that retain their snow well into the summer. We have a wealth of fresh water that we curse it daily for falling on our heads. This is a unique and special place for more reasons than I can mention on this brief page and we are lucky to live here.

But why is this place so unique? Why are there not more places of such abundance? What has happened to the environments and ecologies of other places Homo sapiens call home? Despite all the management techniques we employ, how is it that our resources are diminishing under the weight of competition and demand? Is Southeast Alaska destined to follow the patterns so readily discerned from a brief look at history?

As inhabitants of Juneau it is important to realize that as we go into the woods, take to the waters, hunt, fish, snowmobile, hike and ski we are the vanguard of our species. You and I are the razor’s edge of the spear slicing into the flesh of the shrinking wilderness. We build the roads and power lines that allow progress. We support the trails that give access to the forests. We sustain ourselves off the resources of the land and water. We propagate the mythos of the good life but too often we ignore the marks we make and leave behind.

This show is an exploration of those marks. I have endeavored to depict the beauty of Southeast Alaska in an accessible visual language. I hope the work is first appreciated for the landscapes depicted, while the unnatural objects are intended to trip-up the viewer and to dispel the illusion of pure nature, unsullied by our species. I don’t believe we should live with that illusion.

Edwin Francis Bennett