“This curious world we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817- 1862)
Maybe as a biologist I have always felt connected to the Natural world, even as a child. I was fortunate enough to live in front of the beach by the River Plate, a very wide estuary that connects to the Atlantic Ocean in Montevideo, Uruguay. I observed the color and state of the water every single day and every day it was different. Many times we had dolphins swimming, always in pods. Nowadays, 45 years later I still observe the water daily and go to the same beach but the reality is quite different. Dolphins have left because waters are polluted by chemical wastes, plastic debris and we often have toxic algae blooms, produced by fertilizers used in the countryside which eventually go to rivers and the ocean producing unbalances in the water ecosystem.
All around the world the natural resources are being treated without responsibility sometimes causing irreversible damage and I think this will eventually turn against us.
Through this work I would like to reflect upon this situation and encourage the protection of our natural resources as well as our responsibility in our consuming habits. I have decided to use glass that has already been used supporting the idea of recycling and reusing materials. The installation consists of fused glass resembling books. Each book tells a story by containing different organic pieces from my garden such as leaves, seeds, and natural images as well as texts from Henry David Thoreau, a great American naturalist, writer and philosopher.
Glass evidences fragility and symbolizes the vulnerability in which our environment stands nowadays as well as the urge to protect it especially for future generations.
It is essential to take care of our natural resources so as to heal Nature and give her back her power, which eventually will impact on our wellbeing also.
Humanity without Nature wouldn´t survive, Nature without humanity would…
