Dana Fritz, a professor of photography in University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Art, Art History & Design released her newest photography book “Terraria Gigantica: The World Under Glass” last month.
Fritz has worked at Hixson-Lied School of Fine and Performing Arts for 20 years and has developed a respected reputation, according to her colleague and on-call faculty member at the School of Art, Art History & Design Christopher Leon.
“She is a dedicated teacher and enjoyable colleague,” Leon said.
The book features photos from three of the world’s biggest enclosed areas of nature, the Nebraska Lied Jungle and Desert Dome at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, Biosphere 2 in Arizona and the Eden Project in England. “Terraria Gigantica” has been 10 years in the making, and in celebration of its release Fritz hosted a public talk and signing on Friday, Nov. 2, where she shared her journey to publication.
At the beginning of her talk on Friday, Fritz shared a quote from Michiel Schwarz, a Dutch sociologist of technology who has written on technological culture, that she felt represented the meaning of her book well.
“Nature is not what it used to be,” Schwarz said.
She followed by detailing her childhood growing up in Prairie Village, Kansas, where her interaction with nature wasn’t exactly “roughing it.” Rather, it was through parks and her backyard that she learned to explore the natural world.
“My idea of nature was limited to parks and places where humans were always in sight,” Fritz said.
Fritz said her interactions with nature as a child supported her sense that people aren’t exploring nature the way they used to. This was one of her inspirations for her book, but Fritz credits the ultimate inspiration to her past photo project,“Garden Views.” In it, she photographed Japanese and Chinese gardens and said she was inspired by the gardeners’ storytelling.
“The gardeners use nature to convey a cultural message,” Fritz said.
Like the gardeners creating messages through their gardens, Fritz set out to create a message of her own by capturing the moments where humanity meets nature in three of the world’s biggest nature-simulating domes.
“Many of my photos involved the edges where the illusion [of nature] fades and confusion ensues,” Fritz said.
Fritz shows in her book how the sites work to show nature’s future development through photographs of the technology inside of Biosphere 2 and Eden Project intermixing with the plants. In a photo of Biosphere 2, she showed a single shot of the lush plant area and the dividing wall with the wires working the dome behind it. She also got a shot of an uncamouflaged air duct alongside the greenery inside the Eden Project.
“[The Eden Project] made no attempt to keep technology from view, and it shows people what it takes to keep everything in the dome running,” Fritz said.
An example in Fritz’s book where humanity interrupts the illusion of nature is a view of the Henry Doorly Zoo’s jungle enclosure from a dining table in its TreeTop restaurant with ketchup and mustard bottles in the line of sight. Here, the condiments disturb what would otherwise seem like an authentic nature shot.
Aside from providing the stark contrast between humanity and nature as we see at the Henry Doorly Zoo, the domes are also home to scientific exploration.
Biosphere 2, the second dome Fritz visited, was originally home to a crew of eight astronauts with a space exploration mission. They lived in the special dome to learn how to grow plants in a climate outside of earth. Although the crew is long gone, Biosphere 2 still continues its research to find answers on how to replicate earth’s nature to a new planet.
The Eden Project, the third dome, was built in an area where nothing could grow and — because of its lush greenery in an infertile area — it serves as an educational model of the wonders of what technology can do. Visitors come and see the technological feats that occur to allow the greenery to thrive in a place it usually wouldn't.
Fritz said these accomplishments show how even though it might seem strange to experience nature under a dome, the environment formed under that dome creates opportunity for scientific advancement.
“These sites show an evolution of nature’s future development,” Fritz said.
Fritz has spent 10 years telling the complex story of nature in domes and has developed a stronger appreciation for nature under glass. She said she hopes anyone reading will gain that appreciation too.
“I hope seeing my work will inspire you in thinking how to shape the future environment,” Fritz said.
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