Compensation for Loss

The foundation of my current project;  is a series titled Compensation for Loss.  It references the engineering of extinct or endangered species and how animal and mineral parts may be recombined to create chimerical beasts. Some compositions include collaged images of man-made parts used to strengthen or fill in missing pieces, to compensate for loss.  

Compensation for Loss is a creative research collage series investigating the complex relationships between human/other animals and the shifting categories of extinction and species collapse set within landscapes constantly being altered by global transformations of climate and capitalism.  Visual expression of these elements enhances animal advocacy.

My project comments upon historic and contemporary scientific inquiry into biological and mineral realms. Just as today we look back on the Renaissance collections and consider them naive understandings of the natural world, our present-day assembly of genetic code to understand living cells may seem primitive when viewed 100 years from now.

Artists explain the world around us and anticipate the future. We are growing human body parts and robots are taking over work formerly carried out by humans.  There are sophisticated prosthetics with computerized and digital elements. We are rapidly losing species due to human encroachment and climate change.  Pandemics loom. 

I look to the past to interpret the present and envision the future.  My careful, researched and crafted works re-imagine the Cabinet of Curiosities for our world. My combination of traditionally collaged digital media and painting addresses some of the most pressing issues facing us today.     

The audience will learn that not all extinctions are the same; species collapse or population bottlenecks occurred at inflection points; some species survived, thrived and dominated.  Optimistically,  species will survive current climate turbulence, humans will adapt to live harmoniously with our fellow species; flora and fauna alike. 

I aim to demonstrate how my creative blending of science can spark new understandings and insights into the often complex, destructive forces at work in our time, how they contribute to species collapse and what we may do as homo-sapiens to exist in harmony with fellow species, whether in urban or rural settings.