This project explored trees and the natural form. The chaos of nature is something that has always interested me, particularly in the way that the Earth always seems to find a way to reclaim the land against modernity despite all human attempts to prevent it.
This project initially began as a still-life exploration of trees, developing large-scale multimedia pieces showing broad, bold shapes. However, this quickly evolved into a sculptural project which manifested the chaos of nature into a rigid structural form somewhat like the way our human society tries to dictate the scope and opportunity for which trees and plants are able to grow.
The final piece highlighted the saddening reality of the modern world taking over the natural one, resulting in a disordered yet balanced construction painted in an unnatural white emulsion. Wicker fronds were used to make the initial formation but frayed fabrics, hand-dyed with inks, were woven in on top to highlight the fight-back of "messy" nature reminiscent of weeds and grass, getting tangled up with clean modern structures. The structure was filled with dried out hay and then set alight during a performative conclusion to the project symbolising the devastation of Global Warming on the planet; with both the modern world and the natural world becoming victim.
