Urban Wilderness + Man-made Nature is a collaborative photography project by Shannon Davis and Virginie Kippelen.

The subject of our work is nature, through two opposite lenses: one is “urban wilderness,” which explores the experience of nature redefined by human proximity. The other presents “man-made” nature, how nature is manipulated by man in order to co-exist.

We use a diptych format, pairing two 30”x30” images on a single, vertically-oriented canvas, with the goal to offer a reflection about the conflicting forces between man and nature.

We shot our images independently, but with the intention to create photographs that would respond to one another. When we paired them, we looked for similarities and differences, paying attention to details in composition, light and color.