ARTIST STATEMENT
With climate change the biggest problem in contemporary society, it is a profound mistake that man functions on the belief that humans and nature are separate. This exceptionalism we grant ourselves as a species, contributes to the consequential exploitation taking place against nature and, paradoxically in the context of this belief, against ourselves. Humans exploit nature without thought of consequence. The picked flowers act as a metaphor of the tenuous relationship between humans and nature. The aged hands serve to confront the audience as a grim reminder that draining the life out of nature inadvertently leads to our own self-destruction.
ARTWORK PROCESS
The original inspiration came from a bouquet of flowers in my house that had begun to wilt. I used charcoal to draw the hands and flowers and conte to add pops of colour, using shading and blending. The gradient from colourful yellow flowers to greyscale hands represents the idea of humans draining life from nature. I aimed for a realistic drawing technique by using contrasting tones and elaborated details of the aged hands. I built up details in layers to add depth and interest to the artwork.
