Artist’s Statement
Using prophetic language and imagery, this work is intent on exploring the ability of word and image to reconnect us with the natural world. Despite clear and overwhelming evidence of multiple environmental crises, we, as a society, have refused to take decisive action. We are prisoners of habit and convention and, it seems, believe that we are somehow apart from the natural world, of a nature outside of nature. Wilderness and culture are not different.
This art is an attempt to bridge this gap—it is a proposal to think differently about the purposes of art. To create is to alter our awareness. It is to understand that changing one piece changes the whole. In art, one may find the center of things, a sense of the whole. Creating beauty and telling stories makes us more complete, more attentive. Yet, with our beautiful Earth in obvious distress, our atmosphere rapidly heating up, our waters polluted, and our landfills bursting at the seams, we remain largely distracted and complacent.
Every action we take has ramifications, both kindness and cruelty, bliss and ignorance that ripple outwards. Art can teach us to see clearly. It can give us an intimate knowledge of nature and can open our eyes. Art is generosity. Art is change. So begin: look carefully, ask yourself questions, discover answers. Through concentration and observation, we can begin to understand the tenuous bonds that hold us together in this interconnected world. Art enables us to see ourselves and to see beyond ourselves.
