Virtual Exhibition: Survival: encountering the vegetal world in the era of mass extinction
Here is a link to my Final Masters Project. Please let me know what you think of it. I want to thank all the people involved in the project. My supervisor Chris Barry for her insightful feedback and encouragement. I want to thank my friends and family for your unrelenting support through my masters course.
This project has enabled an understanding of the critical role that the vegetal world plays in creating the atmosphere we inhabit and in supporting human life. It has unfolded my practice into new possible areas of research in the field of Critical Plant Studies. This research has opened up my eyes to the vegetal world, and I want to acknowledge the role plants have played in the creation of my imagery. When collecting plant specimens, leaves and weeds, my intention has been to showcase the uniqueness of so-called unsightly weeds and their overgrown environment. This enquiry has developed out of curiosity of the vegetal world and daring to take a closer look at the plant life that inhabits ‘this island of nature’ in an urban parkland surrounded by housing estates. Hence, this relationship has developed out of the need to relate to nonhuman others amidst a global pandemic when local green spaces have become vital for suburban existence. It has made me appreciate the pivotal role plants play in creating the atmosphere, and making it possible for humanity to exist in the terrestrial world. If we pay more attention to plants, we may be able to have a greater understanding of how plants adapt to their environment, enrich the soil, and sequester carbon: a possible solution to the crisis we find ourselves in, and possibly avert climate change and the imminent threat of mass species extinction.