A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this photoessay. The argument of the piece was simple: overpopulation and overconsumption are disastrous for the environment and for humanity’s continued existence on Earth - a pretty standard liberal concern which most college-educated people would agree with. I clicked on the link because of a pessimistic desire to visualize how our world was heading towards ecological apocalypse.
Yet as I scrolled down the article, it became increasingly obvious that most of the examples given to illustrate overpopulation were culled from the developing world. Notably, the two aerial views of ‘overpopulated’ cities used Mexico City and Port-au-Prince as examples. Moreover, the repetition in each photo - whether it be tree stumps, people, slums, livestock lots, or rectangular crop fields – are potent visualizations of patterned homogeneity from a distanced bird’s-eye perspective. The camera’s positioning in most of these photos follow the logic of scientific objectivity, replicating what Donna Haraway has dubbed the God-trick, the mythical view which sees from everywhere and nowhere.
Yet as I scrolled down the article, it became increasingly obvious that most of the examples given to illustrate overpopulation were culled from the developing world. Notably, the two aerial views of ‘overpopulated’ cities used Mexico City and Port-au-Prince as examples. Moreover, the repetition in each photo - whether it be tree stumps, people, slums, livestock lots, or rectangular crop fields – are potent visualizations of patterned homogeneity from a distanced bird’s-eye perspective. The camera’s positioning in most of these photos follow the logic of scientific objectivity, replicating what Donna Haraway has dubbed the God-trick, the mythical view which sees from everywhere and nowhere.