Photographs by Ira Wagner, text by Conner Gordon

Much has been said of the need to find new ways of communicating the growing dangers of climate change to the public. Like the frog in boiling water, it is all too easy for us to normalize the stress fractures of our changing world, dismissing each increase in global temperature as part of some natural cycle. However, if Ira Wagner’s photographs are anything to go by, the solution to this problem may not be found in degrees, but in feet. In Houseraising, Wagner depicts a coastal community shifting upward by inches at a time, seeking reprieve from the rising tides and extreme weather that climate change has brought to the New Jersey coastline. Perched on wooden palettes and hastily poured concrete, the homes of Houseraising make clear the precarity faced by the communities who find their homes in climate change’s shadow.

At first, the houses Wagner photographs feel like an exercise in futility. It is only a matter of time before the sea claims such structures, no matter their improbable height. But there is inspiration to be found in Wagner’s images, too. To elevate a house is no small thing; it takes care to raise it inch by inch from its foundation, suspending it out of reach of the rising tide. Doing so is not only a measure of labor, but also of the love one has for a home. And when incremental change is no longer enough, we must hope that this same love will guide us to address the world we have built for ourselves–to preserve the home we have left.

See more of Ira Wagner’s work here.