Themes
The themes reflected in my artwork centre on the relics left behind after “the burning,” highlighting the irony that, despite humanity's absolute dependency on plants and the natural world for our very survival, we continue to demolish and destroy the very means of our existence. I aim to express not only the physical detritus left after a fire or natural disaster but also the ecosphere as a repository of human thought, beliefs, and culture. This is illustrated by ancient symbols that represent humanity throughout our long history on Earth, capturing the impact we have had on the planet and the predicaments we face today, leading into a precarious ecological future.
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The second decade of the 21st century demands new ways of analysing the connection between nature and humanity. We need a critical dialogue that encompasses human, nature, science, and culture relations. In her publication “Staying with the Trouble,” Donna Haraway (2016) emphasizes the necessity for humanity to remain present with our “troubles” and the pressing issues of the Anthropocene. Haraway further introduces the concept of the Chthulucene, a term combining Greek roots that speaks to our responsibilities toward both the living and the dying, considering the inheritances of what has come before.
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In her book Reenchantment of Art (2021), Suzi Gablik discusses the shift in contemporary art toward more ecological and socially engaged practices, emphasizing art’s potential to address the environmental and cultural challenges we face in the Anthropocene. Gablik warns that “remaining aloof has dangerous implications” and asserts that “there are no longer side-lines.”
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On a deeply personal level, I have included portraits of my beloved late sister Chantal, my late brother Jean Louis, my late father, and my late mother, echoing the encaustic-painted ancient Greco-Roman and Egyptian Fayum portraits. In their work Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters in the Anthropocene, A. Tsing et al. (2018), discuss how our ghosts represent traces of more-than-human histories, shaping our ecologies. Every landscape is haunted by past ways of life; if we refuse to acknowledge that our present carries these ghosts—the vestiges and signs of our history—we will continue on a path of destruction. We are encouraged to read landscapes for ghostly remnants of past devastation amid today’s debris.
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Genevieve von Petzinger states in her book The First Signs (2016) that the first glimmers of modern thinking emerged around 120,000 years ago in Africa. The use of symbols marked early attempts at graphic communication and the expression of complex concepts. Symbols convey ideas and concepts that constitute versatile, aesthetically potent means of understanding and influencing the world, representing humanity's impact and its consequences.
