Nature Arranged
Man faces nature with the notion that some assembly is required
Nature’s presence alongside man is fragmented and complicated. Man comes from and needs nature, yet his actions indicate an enduring frustration with its persistence where man wishes to settle. Man’s relationship with nature is defined by a communications breakdown that can be seen any time absolute care isn’t taken to maintain control and order within the relationship. He regards nature as utility or inconvenient, yet pays homage to nature despite perpetual misunderstanding.
The project was created to examine this dysfunctional relationship in both the literal and figurative. These images tell the story not of man versus nature, but of man’s disconnection from nature; and it follows that it is a reflection of the disconnection that we experience between each other, as well. In society, we exist as islands among each other, as we are never able to truly understand one another. Our dealings with nature directly correlate to our inability to truly commune outside of our selves. We make nature into the ‘other’, a place that is ‘away’ and separate, yet fail to understand we can never actually leave it or detach from it.
Before we begin to build, all plant life and foliage is cut down in preparation. After the building is complete, then effort is spent planting nature back into a pattern of organization for ornamental and circumstantial benefit. The effect is often beautiful and emotionally refreshing, despite the destruction that occurred to create it. Often times, nature protests, either moving out of the desired uniformity or rebelling in a hostile take over.
As we are no longer born into nature, we find ourselves meeting with it in awkward ways. Disconnection happens through an unhealthy intrapersonal relationship with nature, which is further agitated by man’s unhealthy relationship with man. We can never truly merge with the green things in our gardens, so there is always some level of misunderstanding, a perpetuating disengagement and inability to completely appreciate it. We maintain an air of control within the boundaries we set as ‘ours’, we even designate places for it to be itself, but that never truly prevents nature’s natural behavior.
Read MoreNature’s presence alongside man is fragmented and complicated. Man comes from and needs nature, yet his actions indicate an enduring frustration with its persistence where man wishes to settle. Man’s relationship with nature is defined by a communications breakdown that can be seen any time absolute care isn’t taken to maintain control and order within the relationship. He regards nature as utility or inconvenient, yet pays homage to nature despite perpetual misunderstanding.
The project was created to examine this dysfunctional relationship in both the literal and figurative. These images tell the story not of man versus nature, but of man’s disconnection from nature; and it follows that it is a reflection of the disconnection that we experience between each other, as well. In society, we exist as islands among each other, as we are never able to truly understand one another. Our dealings with nature directly correlate to our inability to truly commune outside of our selves. We make nature into the ‘other’, a place that is ‘away’ and separate, yet fail to understand we can never actually leave it or detach from it.
Before we begin to build, all plant life and foliage is cut down in preparation. After the building is complete, then effort is spent planting nature back into a pattern of organization for ornamental and circumstantial benefit. The effect is often beautiful and emotionally refreshing, despite the destruction that occurred to create it. Often times, nature protests, either moving out of the desired uniformity or rebelling in a hostile take over.
As we are no longer born into nature, we find ourselves meeting with it in awkward ways. Disconnection happens through an unhealthy intrapersonal relationship with nature, which is further agitated by man’s unhealthy relationship with man. We can never truly merge with the green things in our gardens, so there is always some level of misunderstanding, a perpetuating disengagement and inability to completely appreciate it. We maintain an air of control within the boundaries we set as ‘ours’, we even designate places for it to be itself, but that never truly prevents nature’s natural behavior.
