Apocalypse 

This is Denis Peterson’s photograph, Apocalypse, and it is made with a camera, film and photographic paper. Yet the real materials here are the cardboard, plastic and metal of everyday waste. Peterson has carefully composed a heap of discarded objects on a city street, highlighting their inherent qualities of texture and form. The worn cardboard boxes, the crumpled plastic bags, and the rusted metal all speak to a cycle of consumption and disposal deeply embedded in our society. These ordinary materials gain social significance through their arrangement and presentation. The artist engaged with the traditions of documentary photography, a practice rooted in capturing the realities of urban life. However, here the tools and techniques of fine art photography serve to amplify the social issues tied to labor, politics, and consumption, the very mechanics that produce this waste. Ultimately, Apocalypse challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft by elevating discarded materials to the realm of artistic expression, inviting us to consider the labor and resources embedded in these objects.