Álvaro Laiz, The Edge, 2017- 2022

The Edge is a long term project supported by National Geographic and Museo Universidad de Navarra.

Álvaro Laiz is a multidisciplinary artist working with photography, text, video and sound. His research-based work deals with narratives where traditional culture, nature and technology converge. As a National Geographic Fellow, he has been developing the long term project The Edge, which combines the poetic yet powerful idea of shared memory and science through population genetics data analysis, raising discourse around current migratory processes across the entire American continent. The Edge also raises questions about the Anthropocene era and how humans relate to themselves and other species.

Artwork Credit:  The Edge, 2019 © Álvaro Laiz. Image courtesy of the artist. 

My interest stems from the relationship between nature and culture, how each mutually and  retroactively affect each other and how throughout history, but mostly since the Industrial Revolution, humans have subverted this order through technology and this has created a transformational element of the environment. The Earth is changing at great speed due to human activity. This change is called the Anthropocene.

— Álvaro Laiz —

Álvaro Laiz’s talk at the National Geographic Storytellers Summit