Visual artist raises awareness of environmental issues through illuminated images and installations

Los Angeles-based photographer and artist Kevin Cooley uses light as a medium to raise awareness of our impact on the environment around us, focusing mainly on the four elements: earth, wind, water and fire. Pictured, an image from Cooley's "Still Burning" series, which aims to help us better understand the relationship between wildfires and humanity.

The element of fire is personal to Cooley, having nearly lost his home to one in 2017. Pictured: the Los Angeles County Bobcat Fire burns in the distance. It was one of many in 2020 that made the year the largest recorded wildfire season in California's history. Cooley aims to make these disasters "almost beautiful," he said, "(because) that's how you can bring attention to them."

California has also experienced periods of extreme drought, sparking Cooley's interest in water. Photographing waves is one of his latest ventures, highlighting powerful ocean mechanics and revealing deeper human connections to our planet.

Using "prolonged exposure and artificial lighting," Cooley said these photographs are "equal parts natural wonder and constructed spectacle."

Cooley's 2016 installation "Fallen Water" aimed to bring attention to the global freshwater crisis, through a video compilation of Canadian waterways flowing toward Lake Ontario.

This photograph, part of Cooley's "Unexplored Territory" series, illuminates a trail of light across the landscape tracing Mexican explorer Juan Bautista de Anza's path through the Southern California desert -- a trail which now bears the explorer's name.

In his series "Controlled Burns" Cooley created illuminated smoke plumes in a controlled environment, a visual statement about "our desire to control nature," he said.

"Named for prescribed fires that help prevent more destructive ones, these supervised interventions highlight existing associations with smoke and fire: modes of communication, political unrest, distress, inclement weather, and wildfires," Cooley said of the series.

Cooley's 2009 photo series "Light's Edge" provides desolate views of American landscapes illuminated by "eerie distress signals, possibly messages from above or vice-versa," he said.

In this photo, taken in South Pass, Wyoming, lightning shoots through the sky, highlighting "endangered beauty while correlating with beliefs in divine or extra-terrestrial phenomena," Cooley said.

In his series "Exploded Views" Cooley explores our fascination with fire and how it influences our relationship with the environment.

Cooley said he used various types of pyrotechnics to create the explosions for the series, with the help of experts.