In 1795, James Hutton, known as the father of geology, wrote, “It is the little causes, long continued, which are considered as bringing about the greatest changes of the earth.”   

 

The moment I viewed Rony Zakaria’s print, Hutton’s words immediately came to mind.  The image is alien, yet oddly familiar.  It seems to bookend geologic time: volcanoes and humans, with 4.6 billion years in between.  Everything is in motion.  The cars streak, the stars smudge, the steam pours, the ground seems to be flowing towards the viewer. 

 

In contrast to the action in Zakaria’s image, the entire landscape, and all of Java for that matter, was created by imperceptible movement.  Two inches per year.  This is the rate that the Indo-Australian plate slides under the Eurasian plate.  Unnoticeable and unimpressive.  Yet after 80 million continuous years, it has resulted in the island chain of Indonesia, magnificent volcanic peaks, and the setting Zakaria captured.  

 

Mounts Bromo and Batock anchor the image. They conjure the proto-earth, nascent humanity, and the most foundational of processes.  Vapor and gas escape from Mount Bromo the same way they have breached the Earth’s crust for billions of years.  Like the ticking hands on a watch face, these peaks are suggestive of the much larger and more complex mechanisms below. 

 

Tectonic plates collide and one ocean floor dives below another.  The oceanic crust melts and the buoyant molten rock steadily climbs.  Super heated water vapor and gases build pressure and break through to the surface.  Volcanoes erupt, grow, and become mountains.  Mountains erode and become beaches.  Beaches erode and are strewn across the ocean floor.  Tectonic plates collide and one ocean floor dives below another.

 

After purchasing Zakaria’s print from Nuru Project, the image became more than a cryptic geologic watch face.  It is my connection to Architecture for Humanity, the organization I chose to support with my purchase.    By providing access to powerful art, as well as allowing consumers to be active philanthropist through their purchases, Nuru has provided a platform that combines our inclination for both creative exploration and compassion.  Nuru has presented the cause, but it is up to us to ensure that it is long continued. 

 

In the end, Hutton’s words are about so much more than geology.

- Thomas

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Thomas Steinwinder is an Industrial Environmental Engineer. He speaks Mandarin, loves to eat fried chicken livers, and at one point there was a YouTube video of him using Kung Fu to break a board in half with his hands.