Douglas Tolman - Last Gesture (2021)

WINNER: An inland sea disappears before our eyes. Coastal wildfire smoke drifts into the basin, mingling with dust particles from a dry lake bed. We are downwind, with an economy reliant on poor land-use practices which cause ancestral forests to burn and inland seas to dry up. The land has offered so much to us, a gesture that has allowed our species to flourish around the planet. When will we offer something in return? Though this work is specific to the place I call home, lakes and forests around the world are facing similar problems and require similar solutions. –Douglas Tolman