A new year means a new series. If you have been following me for a while, you will know that I have a full time job, so I focus my art into a number of series where I take on one particular subject and create a set of linked images which means alot to me. I usually combine an important message with a skillset I am hoping to develop. Usually I become so inspired that I produce a larger number of pieces.
Through this series I hope to...
1.
Inspire others to reconnect with nature,
even 10 minutes in nature has been known to positively impact your mental
health. In the modern world we often forget our routes and we forget that the
health of the natural world is intrinsically linked to whether we will survive. Although
things like climate change are affecting countries, for now, that seem far away, we are beginning
to see impacts on our weather and food supply.
2. I want to remind people of the valuable
knowledge of indigenous populations and their knowledge of nature’s, animals
and cycles that is handed down through generations over thousands of years. Featuring
indigenous populations is a great reminder of our origins and modern evidence
of people that have a close connection with nature. I am happy to begin to see
a shift in our perspective, to value indigenous cultures more, but I think we can do
more. I believe this knowledge can be valuable in learning about our planet,
something that speaks to my inner scientist.
The aims of this series is to INSPIRE without condemning modern lifestyles or assume that indigenous populations do not have issues or changes to make. . I wanted to create a series to make you think about your own perspective and self reflect.
What can you do to give others a voice and lower your negative impact on the earth?
I simply want to use art to remind us where we came from, where we started and to remind us that WE ARE NATURE, we are humans and have evolved intelligence but this should not separate us from the planet, we are not better or higher than animals or our natural world and we need to remember that we are an integral part of nature and how we act now, will change the future of our natural world.
I was scared to draw humans and different cultures but I think their inclusion was paramount to the story I was trying to tell. I have only included a few examples of people, clothes and there are intricacies I have not covered in this series. I have done my best to represent those people using a mixture of reference images but of course I may not have captured their exact likeness or accurate clothing/customs.
Please forgive my inaccuracies and simplification of my human drawings, I am still learning. This series features 8 people (two self portraits), 6 indigenous groups and many animal species.
Explore the images in this blog, my gallery pages, or search my social media pages using #wearenature2023 to hear my voiceover describing some of the decisions and process in creating each piece.
