Saturday, August 1, 2009

exhausted Mother Nature




‘How pretty and simple’ I thought when I came across this Van Cleef and Arpels advertisement. The woman standing in the beautiful field of wildflowers with butterflies floating around her in a pristine white dress created a scene that looked so perfect. In my alteration, I decided to name the woman Mother Nature and removed her from this natural landscape into an industrial metropolis where no natural landscape is present. She is surrounded by manmade skyscrapers that seem to engulf her. Pieces of the original wildflower field and sky make up her outfit as do other natural elements like poppies, tree bark, rivers, and ferns. Instead of pulling the brim of her hat to block the sun like she was in the original image, she is now pulling it in desperation, embarrassment, and exhaustion. Moreover, I added teardrops to her face to make her puzzled expression look fatigued and sad.

This image no longer celebrates the natural environment but rather conveys how we are exhausting the gifts Mother Nature has given us. In the remixed image’s industrial environment she is out of place and lost. In recent years, I have witnessed the clearing of beautiful areas in my area for the construction of plazas and strip malls. Mother Nature is constantly being overworked and overlooked. How are we to change this destructive and devastating cycle?

Source: Architectural Digest, May 2007

Alison.