Plant planet; recording / recoding invisible energy via the lens of the land

Abstract

This research investigates the "earth / human equation", in which the land is identified as the indispensable nutrient for human existence. Observation of the ongoing processes of exploitation of the land and the images that result from this, leads to a questioning of some of the Western ideas and concepts that provided the legal and ethical framework for colonisation. A perceived connection between material form and energy as the fundamental paradigm for my studio practice informs my enquiry into theories about energy and its representation. I have chosen to methodologically allegorise and illustrate human dependence upon and connection to the earth by a series of references located in science and spirituality. Concepts of energy, codification and pattern are seen in the terms of "exchangeable currency", where organic models function as a "template" informing a philosophical framework, illustrative of the complexities of the relationship between earth and people. Within this hybrid structure, part hard science and part intuitive interpretation, some of the patterns formed in the exchange of energy between the earth and its peoples are interpreted in terms of a cultural stance and siting of the land in relation to the self.