Jeremy Bolen traces the various human interventions that have shaped Cache River Valley in Southern Illinois, asking what can be learned from this landscape.

Exploring Confluences in Southern Illinois

In this piece for Temporary continent., Deep Time Chicago member and artist Jeremy Bolen traces the different confluences encountered in one region, Cache River Valley in Southern Illinois, over the course of several years. Considering the various human interventions that have occurred here—from the benign to the outright destructive—he draws parallels with the more ephemeral interventions of Field Station 4, asking what can be learned from this landscape and how such experiences might engender meaningful change in the era of the Anthropocene.