Naomi White's Landscapes of Illusion and Possibilities Confront the Climate Crisis

The artist's mixed-media collages disrupt 19th-century survey photographs to imagine a more just and equitable future.

Apr. 19, 2026 at 10:09am

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A bold, abstract painting in soft, earthy tones of green, brown, and blue, featuring sweeping geometric arcs, concentric circles, and precise botanical spirals, conceptually representing the structural order and fragility of the natural world in the face of climate change.Naomi White's mixed-media collages disrupt the colonial gaze of historical landscape photography, fracturing inherited narratives to imagine a more just and equitable future in the face of the global climate crisis.Los Angeles Today

Photographer Naomi White's project 'Landscapes of Illusion and Possibilities' uses conceptual, lens-based art techniques to make the often-invisible nature of the global climate and ecological crisis more visible. Drawing on historical theories of landscape and power, White's collages disrupt 19th-century survey photographs of the American West, reintroducing time, people, and culture into the frame to fracture inherited narratives and gesture toward resilience, repair, and possibility.

Why it matters

White's work contends with the inevitability—and necessity—of change, arguing that landscape is not merely something to be viewed, but a process shaped by choices, labor, and ideology. By disrupting the colonial gaze of historical landscape photography, her collages seek to shift focus away from the current model of domination toward a more just and equitable future.

The details

White's mixed-media practice incorporates original and found photographs, encaustic wax, archival glue, fire, and ash. Her collages draw on the opening lines of different chapters from Octavia E. Butler's 'Parable of the Sower,' using them as both titles and points of departure. Recurring motifs like oak trees, freeways, coyotes, and the Santa Ana winds reflect both the recognizability of our present world and the unsettling future we are being conditioned to accept.

  • Naomi White created this series in 2024.

The players

Naomi White

An abolitionist feminist, artist, and educator working at the intersection of political ecology and photography. White addresses complex contemporary issues, questioning dominant ethics and narratives throughout history and asking how we can shift our focus away from the current model of domination to one of equity and collective voice, for the sake of all people, animals, and the planet.

Octavia E. Butler

A renowned science fiction author whose work, including the 'Parable' series, has deeply influenced White's artistic practice.

W.J.T. Mitchell

A scholar whose theories on landscape and power have informed White's conceptual approach.

Timothy O'Sullivan

A pioneering 19th-century photographer whose survey images of the American West serve as a point of departure for White's disruptive collages.

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What they’re saying

“Engaging historical theories of landscape and power, this project contends with the inevitability—and necessity—of change. As W. J. T. Mitchell argues, landscape is not merely something to be viewed, but a process: shaped by choices, labor, and ideology, much like art itself.”

— Naomi White, Artist

What’s next

White's work has been exhibited and discussed throughout North America and Europe, and she continues to teach classes exploring the intersection of photography, ecology, ethics, and activism.

The takeaway

Naomi White's 'Landscapes of Illusion and Possibilities' series uses conceptual photography to disrupt the colonial gaze of historical landscape imagery, fracturing inherited narratives and gesturing toward a more just and equitable future in the face of the global climate crisis.