I have always been drawn to the natural environment as a source for my work, often feeling a need to play my part to help conservation efforts by raising awareness of the issues we face, and problems humanity causes to the natural world. In recent paintings where I had been looking at aerial images of human activity such as mining and deforestation that has created scars on the landscape, I had been focussing on the aesthetics and shock of the image itself rather than focusing on the communities, policies and scientific work that is preserving what’s left.
More recently my research into peatland conservation and restoration is giving me a greater understanding of the efforts being done to preserve and restore our natural environment, helping me to understand the symbiotic relationships between humans, non-human animals, and plants that we are at risk of losing before we even understand them fully, going forward through immersive projects, I hope to capture stories of human-plant interactions, and increasing empathy for this loss through creative works to enact changes.
