Sinking Paradise: An Interview with Anastasia Samoylova

Beauty is almost a taboo word in contemporary art. But you feel much more empathy towards something you admire, adore, and care about.
 

Introduction

I was in London when I stumbled across Anastasia Samoylova’s ongoing photographic project FloodZone, highlighting the impact of rising sea levels half a world away in Florida. Aside from being published as a book under the same title (Steidl, 2019), FloodZone has traveled to Moscow, Madrid, Amsterdam, and New York. It was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize in 2022.

As a climate writer, I’m always intrigued by other forms of art addressing the impact of global warming on our planet. Captivated by her shots, I hunted for Samoylova on Instagram to find out more about her and FloodZone. Originally from Russia and now living in Miami, Samoylova is an artist whose work spans across observational photography, studio practice, and installation. The Russian-American artist boasts an eclectic background, with a master’s degree in environmental design and an MFA in interdisciplinary practices. 

When she moved to Miami in 2016, Samoylova immediately felt a moral obligation to break the climate spell on the Magic City. And that’s how she embarked on her FloodZone odyssey. Despite having experienced the devastating violence of the record-breaking Hurricane Irma in 2017, Samoylova’s lens looks away from catastrophic cliches. Her camera unveils the harrowing consequences of human greed by framing Miami’s ever-growing yet decaying tourist paradise. Her images brilliantly juxtapose illusory billboards touting the real estate dream with the harsh reality of rotting structures. While capturing the awareness of living in a sinking land, Anastasia’s photos reveal a stagnant condition on climate action.

Interview

Antonio Salituro: Let’s start from your multifaceted background. I was curious to know how you transitioned from environmental design to photography.

Anastasia Samoylova: I got into photography by having to photograph the models of my architectural proposals in college back in Russia, where I studied environmental design. I also began doing commercial photography on the side, later put together a portfolio, and got into an MFA program in the United States, where I studied lens-based media. I have moved forward in my photography career since then.

Antonio Salituro: I see. But what made you switch to photography?

Anastasia Samoylova: There are two reasons. First, I found photography fascinating in its ability to affect our perception of space. Second, by photographing those models I mentioned, I realized that I found the images of those places more interesting than the models themselves.

Antonio Salituro: That’s when you realized it was your calling?

Anastasia Samoylova: Yes. When I saw that transformation, I understood that it could more effectively communicate my thoughts than the propositions for various buildings. But I also did not see the possibility of having those spaces constructed in the next several decades in Russia. Instead, I wanted to work on the subject of environmentalism through the available means. Photography is so accessible and well-suited to communicate to a broad audience, regardless of the language of the accompanying text that often comes with the images. So I saw tremendous potential there.

Antonio Salituro: I can see you harnessed that potential very well in your FloodZone project. So, what inspired you to start it in 2016? 

Anastasia Samoylova: It was the move to Miami. At first, the process of photographing was speculative. I had no particular plan or preconceived idea of how I wanted to accomplish my goals there. Finally, I decided to show a sort of psychological portrait of Miami. I didn’t know yet what was waiting for me, even though the environment has always been the thread in my work. So, it was about responding to the environment in the most direct way while my earlier practice was studio-based rather than observational photography.

Antonio Salituro: Let’s say you were going with the flow. Speaking of flow, were you aware of sea-level rise before moving to Miami?

Anastasia Samoylova: It was one of those issues I was familiar with. It wasn’t the subject of my research. Before that, I was living in the Midwest and focused on a different set of issues. Industrial agriculture and factory farming were the pressing problems in that region. So I tend to respond to what is around me at this moment in time. And I think that might be inherently photographic. In my case, this impulse resulted in a documentary photography approach.

Antonio Salituro: What was your immediate response to it when you found yourself surrounded by water?

Anastasia Samoylova: It felt immoral not to address it. Even though the one thing I knew I didn’t want to do was to sensationalize or further exacerbate the sense of doom and gloom out of sheer respect for this community. We are aware of the issue, but there’s a problem of desensitizing the audience, where it becomes too overwhelming for us to accept the condition we are in. So, the idea was to somehow portray this feeling of anxiety through the minor signs found in everyday life and provide a bit of hope through the ever-present beauty. Beauty is almost a taboo word in contemporary art. But you feel much more empathy towards something you admire, adore, and care about. And beauty is one of the tools to get to that point.

Antonio Salituro: Being a scientist, I admit that some of us can be too alarmist sometimes. Instead, your beauty-centered approach could trigger people into action more effectively rather than making them feel hopeless. On another hopeful note, when reading the blurb of the FloodZone book something piqued my curiosity. It said that your shots “capture the mood of knowing the climate is changing, of living with it.” That made me think about climate adaptation. Would you say your photos help people adapting to the changing climate?

Anastasia Samoylova: I’m an observer. My goal is to raise awareness of what is already here and possibly help envision what is coming. In my work, there is an implied timeline of projected events that can hopefully signal to people and governments that adaptation might mean relocation until more serious measures could be taken to prevent further damage.

Antonio Salituro: You mentioned relocation, so you may know that many Floridians may be forced to abandon their homes as early as 2040 because of sea-level rise. To add to that, sea-level rise might have played a role in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in 2021, which killed nearly 100 people. Not to mention that hurricanes will become more frequent and violent. That can be a lot to take on, so how do you cope with climate anxiety?

Anastasia Samoylova: I’ve been through four hurricanes since I moved to Miami. Experiencing such natural phenomena shifts your sense of scale as a human being. My previous project dealt with the concept of the sublime as it pertains to the landscape. Here you feel overwhelmed in real life. The sense of awe shrinks you to such a tiny proportion. You immediately see how life around you can be wiped out in an instant. Art has been a means for my emotional survival through many things in life, including experiences like that.

Climate anxiety is present in almost everybody here in Florida. And, of course, we know that the geography of climate vulnerability is expanding all the time. There’s no slowing down in that direction. The anxiety might not be as prevalent for somebody who has just invested in real estate only to profit off it. But then it’s higher for those who have Miami as their only home, and they’ve lived there for generations and are not as mobile when it comes to relocation. Those people need transparency more than anyone and must be made aware of the time when the adaptation will mean migration.

Antonio Salituro: You’re right, timeline is key when it comes to climate action. Talking about the inexorable passage of time, I know FloodZone is an ongoing project. How long are you envisaging it to last? And is it meant to evolve with climate change? 

Anastasia Samoylova: Yes. The value of continuing work like that is that it is a record of these rapidly changing places at this moment in time. And we know that these places will not look the same in a couple of decades. So, in other words, it’s a historical record. 

Antonio Salituro: Makes a lot of sense. It will work as a memento for future generations. With the future in mind, I can’t help but ask you about the “Garage After Hurricane” picture, where you portrayed your son standing ankle-deep in the rippling water flushed in by the record-breaking Hurricane Irma. How did he feel about what happened? Also, how has your work helped him understand and grow with climate change?

Anastasia Samoylova: He’s very aware, and they discuss it in school. He said he would not live in Miami once he graduates from high school and would like to move into the mountains. It’s a heavy weight to know that his generation already will bear the burden of urgently undoing what the previous ones and we have done. So, he loves Miami for now, but there’s this melancholy feeling that it is not forever. And you learn to live with this strange temporariness. You can’t really put your roots down because you’re in a constant state of alertness. We have shelves of supplies for hurricane time; some people even have special blow-up kayaks that can be used to navigate the flooded streets.

Antonio Salituro: It must be hard to know that sooner or later you’ll be kicked out of your place. And it could happen even without much notice. Climate-driven migration leads me to another related phenomenon: climate gentrification. How much is this affecting Miami? And are you flagging it through FloodZone?

Anastasia Samoylova: I made several images on the subject of climate gentrification and tried to be sensitive and considerate of the communities I’m photographing. While I’m a Miamian, I don’t live in Little Haiti, a neighborhood that’s being rapidly gentrified right now. A significant shift is happening now where immigrants and the descendants of immigrants from Haiti lived for many years. It will continue to bear the name Little Haiti, but Haitians appear to be moving out in mass due to the increased cost of living and development aimed at the wealthy. These inland neighborhoods used to be less attractive than waterfronts, but they are higher elevated than Miami Beach, which is only three or four feet above the water, so in recent years, they have become magnets for high-end commercial and real estate development.  

Antonio Salituro: Relocating higher up is an obvious solution but shouldn’t come at the expenses of other people. On the other hand, there could be some alternatives to migration. You might have heard that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suggested to build a 20-foot-high sea wall to protect Miami from floods. However, this could undermine the bay water quality and stunning aesthetics. Which is why others prefers green infrastructure, such as coral reef and mangroves. What’s your take on that?

Anastasia Samoylova: I’m not a scientist, but I’ve seen those sea walls crumble, and I think mangroves are more effective. My exhibitions and the accompanying programming are a means to generate a dialogue—the actual goal of my work. For the panels around my shows I invite experts, local government, grassroots communities, and activists. I don’t see myself as a singular voice capable of changing anything alone, but rather as a part of this extensive group of concerned citizens that speak in unison using mediums they’re most proficient in. I don’t think anybody has the complete list of answers to the complex problem of climate change. Still, the hope is to arrive at those answers by continuously asking the right questions and expanding the audience that is willing to engage in the conversation.

Antonio Salituro: Totally agree. Connecting people with different perspectives will surely catalyze our climate-solving progress. Which is where FloodZone is going to, right? I read that its next chapter will focus on what corporations and governments are doing to mitigate climate change. Have you already started working on it?

Anastasia Samoylova: I’m currently in the research phase for this project’s next chapter. I would like to provide more exposure to effective climate solutions already implemented by communities and corporations of any size. In addition, I’m looking to explore climate-aware utopias and the efforts at greener living of the last few decades.

Antonio Salituro: I look forward to viewing more on that. How about your latest project, Floridas? Does it intertwine with FloodZone at all?

Anastasia Samoylova: In my new Floridas project, published by Steidl in 2022, some images are still obviously environmental. They didn’t fit into FloodZone because they were of fires or toxic chemical plants emitting fumes over the neighborhood. And there are other things woven into that project that are inseparable from the environmental concerns. There’s politics, and there’s the economy. There’s also Florida’s demographics. Climate change is not a separate entity; all those categories impact it. Floridas is a bit of a time capsule. It’s simultaneously in the past and some unknown future. Florida is one of the most controversial states, and it is stigmatized, but I think it really represents a wide variety of internal conflicts in this country.

Antonio Salituro: Apart from your valuable artistic contribution, which climate mitigation actions do you implement in your day-to-day life, Anastasia?

Anastasia Samoylova: I’m certainly not a carbon-zero citizen.

Antonio Salituro: Well, I guess not even Greta Thunberg is.

Anastasia Samoylova: She certainly seems to be doing better than me. I live in a city that exists because of air conditioning. I have to drive my car to get anywhere in Florida, and my current projects have a vast geography that needs to be covered. I have a bicycle attached to my car, but it’s not an electric car, and the source of energy required for those is dubious anyway. So, there are all these limitations, the infrastructure is not there, but at least we have recycling.

Antonio Salituro: Believe me, I share your frustrations. But it’s good you’re trying your best. Like FloodZone, it’s a work in progress, right? So, what is your camera targeting next? 

Anastasia Samoylova: I just published a new project, Image Cities, that deals with urban development and looks at the type of demographics the major metropolises aim to attract. Cities are major players in the global economy and politics, but I’m mainly looking at cities through the imagery permeating them, from architectural renderings to advertisements of monumental scale. Cities that were havens for the working and middle classes are now becoming luxury playgrounds. However, their population density and superior public transportation could contain some of the answers we need for climate solutions. In the next few years, I will focus on various examples of such solutions in the U.S. and globally, perhaps an attempt at some optimism.

Learn more about Anastasia Samoylova at AnaSamoylova.com.