April
Winter
I, Vanitas
The Virgin and The Locust
The Virgin and The Locust explores the global infatuation with youthfulness and innocence as well as its predatory, destructive nature. The flowers cast in resin symbolise the attempt to put an end to aging and the pressure on women to remain youthful. Among the fresh white flowers are white lilies – symbols of innocence and virginity – as well as predatory and ravaging insects. The locust swarm consuming everything symbolises over-consumption and scrutiny of the appearance of women.
Temptations Of The Flesh
Temptations Of The Flesh explores sugar – its horrifying history and its present bittersweet abundance. Preagricultural humans received all their sugars from unrefined sources like fruits and honey (represented by the honeybees on the cake at right).
The first granulated sugar was produced 2600 years ago but in such small quantities it could never be considered a staple. In the 18th century Europeans developed a lust for the sweet crystals which compelled them to establish a global manufacturing network using slave labour (represented by the chains made of sugar in the foreground and the giant African ants on the cake at left).
This image of enslaved peoples working cane fields to feed the cravings of their rulers is much different from the cutesy-cheeked children in advertisements for sugared cereal in the 1950s. It is also different from how we view sugar today, as we recognize health risks from over-consumption. This is symbolized by the silver grillz which represent rotten teeth and wealth, both at the same time.
The Pomegranate and The Unicorn
The Pomegranate and The Unicorn explores the theme of corruption using classical symbols and inspiration from the medieval Unicorn Tapestries.
In folklore it is said that a unicorn can only be captured by a virgin. In the tapestries the King lures the unicorn to its death using such a method and the beast bleeds pomegranate seeds, a symbol of corruption in the Greek myth of Persephone and the underworld.
The unicorn is represented by the white hoof, the quartz horn and the venison I acquired from a local hunter. Corruption is portrayed by the 30 Tyrian shekel coins I cast by hand, matching the type and number that Jesus was betrayed with by Judas 2000 years ago.
Pomp and Splendor
Pomp and Splendor explores greed and the marked tendency of wealth to concentrate in fewer and fewer hands. Monstrous empires of luxury are created on the backs of more and more impoverished people.
My face reflected in the silver fruit on the left symbolizes self-reflection, while the manufactured pear and apple symbolize collecting things that do not sustain health.
Hidden among the silver riches are two spiders, including a poisonous black widow commonly interpreted as a symbol of suffering and death, the suggestion being that death comes for all regardless of affluence, and wealth does not follow us to the grave.
The World Is Your Oyster
The World Is Your Oyster explores a biblical verse which seems to give humanity reign over every aspect of the world. Humans have been doing this for thousands of years.
The following passage from the Book of Genesis lays it out: “...they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Feeling this sense of entitlement over the world and its creatures, we have wreaked havoc over most ecosystems on land and underwater. We are now facing the long-expected consequences of our actions through the effects of climate change.
Don’t Ever Antagonize The Horns (D.E.A.T.H.)
Don’t Ever Antagonize The Horns explores the symbolism around death and being in the “winter of one’s life”. The dried plants show this winter of decay as well as pain in the form of thorns and thistles, and its soothing in the form of poppy pods. In the foreground lies a ring of black dahlias which have a significant correlation with death – a famous unsolved murder is named after the flower.
In front of these flowers on the left are small vials filled with belladonna, henbane, and datura inoxia – medicinal tinctures in small doses which turn into poisons in large doses. There are also poisonous mushrooms hidden within the photograph, which I foraged and identified myself.
My hand-made candles show the passage of life and the inevitability of death.
The small dead mice I found around my cabin on Mayne Island. I do not see these deaths in a negative light because wherever there is an abundance of life there will always be an abundance of death.
On the left side beside my face is a metal identification tag. It is the tag from my father’s ashes and represents my own personal experience with death.
The First Law Of Nature
“The First Law Of Nature” refers to a quote by Samuel Butler about self-preservation and how a living creature will always choose its own survival over anything else.
The photograph explores humanity’s search for immortality and eternal youth, a quest which goes back at least as far as the Qin Dynasty, 200 BCE. At that time substances were tried which had adverse effects on human health – such as mercury. Many leaders died young consuming such preserving elixirs!
The search for immortality has not ceased in our times. The global market for anti-aging cosmetics is about $47 billion US per year, and it includes preteens and children who are keen “to nip aging in the bud.”
The prospect of finding a “cure” to aging is seemingly within grasp for more than just emperors and kings thanks to bio-engineering. Scientific studies are under way to try to reverse the action of aging.
Cryopreservation is another method wealthy individuals are trying to enhance their chances for immortality. Freezing their bodies (sometimes just their brains) they hope to preserve the tissue until a cure to aging is found and their deaths can be reversed.
This photograph depicts many symbols of youth and evanescence – fruit, flowers, smoke, butterflies – all of which have been preserved – literally frozen in time.
1.5 Degrees from Royalty
1.5 Degrees from Royalty explores the parallels between the “rich and powerful” and the global climate crisis. The title “1.5 Degrees from Royalty” is inspired by two different terms. The first — “Degrees from Royalty” — is used among enthusiasts of the British monarchy to discuss how genetically related one is to royalty. The second is 1.5 degrees celsius which, in the climate sciences, is the catastrophic global temperature rise that would have irreversible effects on ecosystems and lead to a runaway greenhouse effect. By combining these two concepts a new meaning emerges: how are our own lavish lifestyles contributing to climate change and future history?
St. Edward’s Crown, the Orb and Sceptre, the Ampulla, as well as the symbols of the lion and the rose all represent the historic wealth and power of the Monarch. By making these objects out of ice they take on a new fleeting form like the exploited ecosystems British wealth and power were built upon.
Stranger In A Strange Land
Stranger In A Strange Land explores the idea of being isolated, confused, or alienated by your surroundings: physically, culturally, or spiritually. In attempts to heal alienation there is a fine line between spiritual exploration and surrendering to the temptation of numbness, dissociation, and mind alteration.
Humans have been using mind altering psychoactive drugs in spiritual rituals and healing for thousands of years, though the types of drugs have changed. Increased potency and addictiveness have changed the way society views drug use and users. Potential permanent changes in brain chemistry from ongoing use have made seeking this antidote from alienation a permanent trip into the unknown.