Thinking about the brief we were given for this task, I tried to take inspiration for objects that I found out and about in Lincoln. I found that I could build a narrative about the relation and subsequent discourse between nature and humanity through the objects I found and how I altered them. For the first object, I found this lamppost with graffiti saying “Meat is Murder” with a torn label for a chicken sandwich stuck underneath. I am not sure which came first, but in either case, this shows to me one perspective of the relationship we as humans have with nature. Some people trying to lash out with their words against what is, in their eyes, an unjust and evil society that takes nature for granted. Whereas the antithetical opinion is placed directly next to it, the small torn off label representing the larger society and its opinions in such a nonchalant way, almost disregarding the previous opinion.
For the next part of this narrative, I found this croissant, totally uneaten and simply left there. I regret my choice of putting a leaf in the croissant when I found it. I thought, at the time, it would help me visualise the discourse between nature and the destructive and wasteful nature of humanity, but in doing so I just exhibited that behaviour myself. I could have maybe offered this food that I found wasted to a homeless man or woman, but instead I played with it and used it for my project.
But the idea behind the croissant originally was to discuss how people act abusively and without thought to their surroundings. But that, even throughout the abuse we dump onto the planet and our environment, it will always prevail. Nature is more than us and it always will be. By keeping the food out of focus in this shot and instead focusing on the tree in the background, I tried to describe the way that nature is ultimately uncaring and omnipotent and that we will all fade away before it.
This last image I took really tries to encompass my ideas on the relationship that nature has with humanity. I found this cup lying half submerged in this bush and it made me think of a baby being swaddled in a warm blanket by a mother, Similar to how this earth is our mother and how this environment is our blanket that provides for us. However, just like this plastic cup, we will eventually choke our environment and poison our mother and, in response, we shall be rejected and abandoned. Our earth will turn hostile and it shall kill us, returning itself to a state where other, more deserving creatures can grow and prosper.
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