TRANSFORMING PLANET

NATURE MORTE, the translation of “Still Life”, originated as a term from the Netherlands in the 1500’s and continues to refer to the traditional artform used to represent contrived scenes of nature species, such as fruit and flowers. This phrase can be seen to reflect an attitude towards nature, which fixes living species in a static, unchanging representation. However, the literal translation into English, “Dead Nature”, with its focus on “death” rather than “life”, seems to offer a bleak, apocalyptic forecast for our planet.

With many world regions now unliveable at times of the year – climate catastrophe is inducing changes to our ecological systems. Plant and wildlife species are adapting in multiple ways, and some are evolving and morphing into new species. Mutant Flowers is a visual exploration of the morphing process that plant life can undertake. These images are presented here as intentionally not “real” – they appear as photographs of a fabricated replica of a nature scene, as can be found in a museum diorama.

Cyclical environmental damage incurred through industrial processes is presented in CLEAN UP. The cycle of pollution, followed by clean up processes, with its industrial chemicals can escalate the pollution process – an example of this are the toxic and deadly chemical sprays used to contain ocean oil spills and stop them spreading.  Even at a domestic scale, the daily use of household cleaning products continues to generate an accelerating buildup of chemical toxicity. 

See ART PROJECTS:
CLEAN UP
NATURE MORTE