Trouble in Paradise

Featured on Paper Journal & Pool Resources.

A photo essay documenting the artificial occurrences within the natural landscape of Hawaii.

Visiting the island of Maui, I was taken aback by the meeting of natural beauty and constructed forces which welcome vacationers. This was articulated through parking lots which interrupt lush valleys, mall complexes that emulate a tropical aesthetic, and various protruding comfort-providing structures. This hybrid environment was distinctly contemporary, and made even more extreme by the contrast generated by the almost unreal, utopic qualities of Maui’s natural setting.
The constructed environments were not only visually engaging, but spoke to larger concerns of understanding “natural” and “authentic”.  Documenting these occurrences, my images provide a means to engage with this artificial/natural merging. By highlighting this collision, the image of contemporary commercial Hawaii is challenged, revealing the construction of “paradise.”