Too Late

"Too Late": A cyborg from the "Beyond Humanity" series. It has arrived at a dead Earth, holding a hazmat bag and eating an apple—a new Adam.
A close-up of the "Too Late" cyborg's head. This post-human successor, made of e-waste, is a witness to humanity's squandered legacy.
"Too Late": An e-waste cyborg finds Earth destroyed. It holds a hazmat bag for our polluted wasteland and an apple for a new beginning.
A close-up of the Voyager Golden Record plaque on the "Too Late" cyborg's chest. A symbol of humanity's hubris, found by our successor.
A "scrim" view of "Too Late." This motherboard cyborg is a cautionary tale about our environmental legacy, left to clean up our waste.
See "Too Late" and its shadow. This e-waste sculpture, which followed the Voyager plaque, serves as a dark reflection of humanity's hubris.

Part of my Beyond Humanity series, Too Late's narrative centers on the Voyager spacecraft's Golden Record, a plaque on the cyborg's chest that provides information about humanity, including the location of our planet. 

Found and followed by a cyborg culture, the title Too Late reveals the tragic truth: the cyborg arrived to find that humanity had already destroyed itself and the planet. There’s nothing left to do but clean up and start over. 

The context for this work is multi-layered:

  • Environmental Legacy: The hazmat bag signifies the grim task of cleaning up humanity's polluted wasteland, a powerful statement on the consequences of our environmental negligence.

  • A New Beginning: The cyborg's act of eating an apple references the biblical story of Adam, positioning it as a new beginning for a post-human world. The "forbidden fruit" is the future that humanity squandered.

  • The Irony of Hubris: The Voyager plaque becomes a symbol of humanity's hubris. We proudly broadcast our existence to the cosmos, only for a successor to arrive and find we have already vanished. The sculpture serves as a cautionary tale, questioning what legacy our actions are truly leaving behind.

57”h x 27”w x 3”d: hard drive platter, motherboard, aluminum photo print, copper conductive tape.