Quin de la Mer, Conversations with Covid (detail)
Quin de la Mer © 2020
Artists from around the world responded to "Interconnected", What's Next for Earth's last art call of historic 2020.
Interconnected asked these questions to artists:
– How do you find comfort in a world that is falling apart in so many ways?
– What makes you feel deeply interconnected with others and with the natural world?
– How does a shift from a narrative of domination and accumulation to a narrative of respect and sobriety look like?
For better or for worse, the pandemic has shown us how interconnected our world is. We have created an extremely globalized world where people and goods travel intensively, enabling Covid-19 to quickly spread and alter the human experience across the globe. The world stood still, and we realized how much we need the people who take care of our health, our food, and how much we value the connection with those around us. Being unable to spend time with friends, family and community has made us ponder the importance of our connections. We’ve learned the immense value of a simple touch, a smile, or a hug. We are learning the importance of our relationships and the interconnectedness we have across the globe.
The world is facing a poly-crisis, in which climate change is a monumental challenge. We already see its consequences all around the globe. Hurricanes intensify, forests burn, ice caps are melting, the ocean is acidifying, biodiversity is in free fall, inequalities are growing. By over-using the natural world and consuming nature’s resources as if they were unlimited and creating exponential pollution and waste, we are cutting the very branch we are sitting on.
The story we are told: consume more to be happier, is incompatible with living in harmony with our planet. Even if we could switch to renewable energy easily, it would not solve the fundamental problem we have: our entire system is based on economic growth. And economic growth is the measure of the destruction of nature.
But other stories are possible, stories where communities interconnect with the natural world in a respectful way, sharing Earth resources and space with other species. A world where humans do not take over every single wild space on this small planet. Understanding our vital interconnections with the natural world will make us understand why we need to limit ourselves to maintain a livable planet.
The MAHB Arts Community page section dedicated to the What’s Next For Earth Project is here.
Selection of the artists' contributions on Instagram
Hugo Crosthwaite (Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico)
Instagram: @hugocrosthwaite
Dibujos de Cuarentena parte 14
Quarantine drawing sketchbook part 14
A stop-motion drawing animation series that depicts pandemic life.
Quin De La Mer (Indian Wells, California, US)
Instagram: i3rstudios
Waking
A Moving Poem about Interconnection. Love is the way we find comfort in a world that is falling apart. Through love, we deeply connect with others and with the natural world. The shift from a narrative of domination and accumulation to a narrative of respect occurs through a world view that honors love above all else.
Location: California Colorado Desert
Honorable Mention – Hollywood International Golden Age Festival 2020.
Nuzart (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Instagram: @nuz.art
Everything is connected
Digital animation
Everything is always in constant motion, spiraling through the infinite possibilities to eventually become one.. duality and separation being nothing but illusions of reality as we know it. It is what creates the flow of the universe and thus our inescapable longing to become one begins. Until it ends to begin again. To end again to begin. In this interconnected web of life.
Priyanka Rana (Atherton, California, US)
Instagram @priyankarana_artist
Rearview (100 Astronauts), detail
Plaster, wood, and mirror
4’x4’
Plan A for Planet B
Plan A for Planet B
Planet B for you and me
Planet B for you and me
You, me, and Christopher Columbus
You, me, and Christopher Columbus
Will we make the same mistakes?
Will we make the same mistakes?
This new place needs new rules
That lasts us for Billion years
When our DNA drifts then who are you and me
When our DNA drifts then who are you and me
Objects in this mirror are closer than you think
Objects in this mirror are closer than you think
Pascale Rousseau (Paris, France)
Instagram: p.rousseau2019
Otafuku, the Japanese goddess of Mirth
Drawing on a bean (length: 24mm)
To draw on a bean: anyone can do it anywhere in the world since this plant is shared by millions of people on Earth. Like any seed, it is a powerful concentrate of life, nourishment for the body, and a source of inspiration for the eye.
Exercising this modest #art is a very simple way to honor the little treasures of everyday life, to thank nature for what it offers us, to find connections with ancient beliefs when animism was obvious. In most cultures bean is considered as a symbol of renewal, brings luck and prosperity, wards off misfortune, and chases away evil spirits, so… always have a (painted) bean at home!
Pascal Ken (Saint-Brévin-Les-Pins, France)
Instagram: @pascalken
Interconnected
Calligraphy on paper, digital composition.
15cmx21cm
Virgile (Paris, France)
Instagram: @virgileblc
Anthropocene
Sailev (Honfleur, France)
Instagram: @sailev_art
World Wild Web
Oil on canvas
Nature is a wonderful diversity of living organisms that thrive in interdependence. Let’s protect it.
Mercedes Uribe (Paris, France)
Instagram: @mercedesuribe7
Série PAZ
PAZ series
Peinture estampe
15cmx15cm
Eric Meyer (Paris, France)
Instagram: @eric_meyer
Inter Connected
Ink drawings, cut out, hollowed out, and digitally layered to create a mesh, interconnectivity, and networks.
Lotte Van De Walle (California, US)
Instagram: @lotte_v.d.w
Talisman
3×4.5 inches
My “Talisman” series gives voice to the tiniest creatures. Revealing the bonds between all living things -especially those we take for granted- confronts us with our own fragility. We are as vulnerable as the ecosystems and resources we depend on.
Kathryn Howard (Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, UK)
Instagram: @denbydaleart
I’m more proud to live in this lovely community-minded village than of my painting efforts. I placed this sign in the giant pie dish in Denby dale’s ‘pie village’ at the beginning of lockdown. It’s still there and people have added lovely painted stones around the dish.
Since 1788 the villagers of Denby Dale have baked giant pies to celebrate extra special events (11 to date). Would be lovely to have a pie party when this pandemic is over!
Marianne Bickett (Oregon, US)
Instagram: @mariannalmaremoments
Connecting with animals has always been a refuge for me. In this time of pandemic, I have found sanctuary in that connection. Animals and humans have been intricately connected from our beginnings… for we evolved from animals and have depended upon them for physical, emotional, and spiritual survival. Annie was a rescued mare who had been abused. But she was still full of life and love. Her courage inspired me and to this day (this photo was taken ten years ago and Annie died a couple of years later). I am changed because I knew her.
Marcela Villaseñor (California, US)
Instagram: @mvillasenor
The Roots
Bermuda Triangle, 2020
Photo was taken in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Ivan Sigg (Paris, France)
Instagram: @ivansigg
30 leaves connected by Autumn
The water of the sky and the blue clouds that rose in it. The wrinkled hands of the fig tree, The still greenness of the lemon tree. The little foreign languages of jasmine, lilac, pittosporum. The rolled bamboo leaves. A yellow devil’s hoof. Everywhere exotic slats with grooves blackened by time: the fruit of a collaboration between nature and humans, shining with intelligence and rain. And finally, my blurry reflection, which fixes and comments on this square of colorful and comforting present.
Michele Guieu (Sunnyvale, California, US)
Instagram: @micheleguieu
Archipelago
Branches and repurposed yarn,
2020
It is time to experiment, slow down, reflect, let go, pause.
It is time to observe nature.
It is time to accept our fragility, mirroring nature’s fragility, because we are nature.
It is time to accept the messiness. Life is messy. Art is messy. All I am doing right now does not look all organized and controlled? Good!
It is time to connect with people to think together about possible – and immediate – changes. Changes are necessary and unavoidable. I see the period we are going through as a metamorphosis.
These challenging times are also the occasion to continue to question my practice, including the materials I am using. The art studio is not exempt from the extraction process upon which we built our civilization: the art materials come from “somewhere”. I really like the idea of modest art or temporary art. I like to do digital collages. It is possible I will never print them, and that’s OK.
Cynthia Fusillo (Barcelona, Spain)
Instagram: @cynthiafusillo
Who Can We Help?
A time to be interconnected with each other and our environment.
Mixed media collage of monoprint with still shots of Yilei in my paper dress stitched with the words “Who Can Help Us” – “Who Can We Help” & stenciled leaves.
Inspired by Chinese woman poet Qiu Jin’s poem “Preoccupation”.
EmanPDX (US)
Connecting with the Cosmos
Life on Earth is caught in a perfect storm of existential threats. Humans alone are responsible. As humans, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or creed, let’s stand together. Let’s commit to dignity for all and to a common course for celebrating the human relationship with nature. The best chance for a common course will surely come when women have fair and equal access to the levels of power on all levels of human society. This is what Connecting with the Cosmos is all about.
Cristian Pietrapiana (NYC, US)
Instagram: @cristianpietrapiana
All in the Same Boat
Mixed media on paper
20”x16”
2020
“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.”
Joseph Campbell
Terri Hughes-Oelrich (California, US)
Instagram: @hughesoelrich
Threatened Species in British Columbia Coast
Collage 11″x17″
2021
Christina Conklin (California, US)
Instagram: @bychristinaconklin
Tideline as Timeline: San Mateo
50” x 20”
cloth, paper
2018
This is the artifact of a walk in the Tideline as Timeline series, in which I led people along the future shoreline (in red) of their neighborhood — this walk-in San Mateo.
The light blue “waves” denote the current shoreline we crossed Hwy 101, which will be underwater before too long, b cause much of this area was built on infilled salt flats.
Each slip of paper records a conversation between pairs of walkers in response to prompts on their relationship to place, their role in the story, and their responses to a climate disrupted future.
Silvia Cored (Brockwood Park, UK)
Instagram: @silviacored
Riu
Mixed-Media – natural soil pigments and Indigo tinctoria mixed with egg
2mx3m
This painting is part of an installation exhibited in Valencia, Base de la Marina, in Spain.
Interconnection and Resilience were the concepts behind the installation. Herman Hesse’s depiction of the river as a container of all existent sounds was the primeval source of inspiration. Throughout the process, I picked many voice reflections and created two sound pieces.
Laurence Malherbe (Lagrasse, France)
Instagram: @laumalherbe
Interconnected
Engraving on photosensitive film
2020 will at least have taught me that if thought is undoubtedly the privileged place of connection between the other / you and me, the hand is this subtle and essential point of contact with the world. We will have to touch each other again, hold out our hands, shake them.
Michelle Montjoy (Oceanside, California, US)
Instagram: @michellemontjoyart
Someday
Embroidery on vintage hankie
12” square
As this awful year comes to a close I am reaching for the hope of someday,
Addy Lyon (Oceanside, California, US)
Instagram: @addy.artz
Spread Love (detail)
The drawings and prints in this book (11”x8”) were created throughout 2020 and reflect some emotions and feelings this year has brought to my thoughts.
This book was constructed with all pre-existing materials I’ve found littered or previously had myself saved waiting to be used and repurposed. I enjoy taking an item from one dialogue/purpose like becoming damaging waste and shifting that material into another life through art such as using newspaper, stuffing paper, and old fabric to convey my message within this piece. I also believe hands can play as symbols of many meanings including conjoining, taking, receiving, and longing making their presence aware throughout the pages. Spreading love happens in a brief moment with others like smiling at a friend or stranger, making it easy to share.
Spread Love.
@WhatsNextForEarth is a participative art project based on Instagram that invites the community to respond to a monthly topic and call for submissions, reflecting on the human predicament.
~ Michele Guieu, Eco-Artist, MAHB Member, and MAHB Arts Community coordinator ~