Jeremy Underwood’s photographs are a commentary on what humans leave in the natural landscape. The work aims to challenge viewers to “reflect upon our consumer culture, the relationship we have with our environment and the pervasion of pollution.”

Underwood’s series, Human Debris, is featured in the Griffin Gallery at the Griffin Museum of Photography April 9th through June 5th, 2015. An opening reception will take place on April 9th, 2015 from 7-8:30pm. Jerry Takigawa will lead an artist talk and gallery tour of the Main Gallery exhibition False Food at 6:00pm before the reception. The talk and reception are free and open to the public. The Griffin Museum will be free to all visitors on April 22nd, 2015 in celebration of Earth Day.

“The project spotlights the environmental condition of Houston’s waterways through the building of site-specific sculptures assembled out of harvested debris collected from the beach,” says Underwood, “Each found material lends itself to a new creation, encompassing the former life of the debris into each sculpture. These objects are simply artifacts to support the work, photographed in interaction with the landscape, then left to be discovered.”

By creating photographs of his sculptures, he invites the community to interact with this project on multiple levels. The pieces he creates continue on as public art within the environment that the debris was found; the conversation about consumer culture and waste then continues in the context of a gallery space. According to Underwood,“ My work embodies our complicated relationship with the environment and the contemporary landscape, focusing on the tension between nature and culture shaping these physical spaces.”

Jeremy received his MFA from the University of Houston and BS from the University of Central Missouri in addition to study at the University of Central Lancashire in England. Underwood has been published in Photo District News and named an emerging talent by Lens Culture magazine. He has received a number of grants and fellowships from such institutions as the Society for Photographic Education, the University of Houston and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. Recent exhibitions include the Houston Center for Photography, Fotofest and the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and has been awarded residency at Yaddo. His recent research project entails collaboration with the Colorado Art Ranch, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, and the US Fish and Wildlife, exploring wilderness stewardship along Massachusetts’s marine and coastal region.