| Project Title | Humanity Reflected |
| Location | Talos Art Gallery, Broads Green Farm, Calne, Wiltshire, UK |
| Dates | 18/07/24 till the 21/07/24 with the finale at 2;30pm on the last day. |
Artist Statement:
I am an oil painter, who also utilizes multimedia , charcoal, and graphite in my artistic endeavours. My preferred styles are figurative, realistic, anecdotal and more recently conceptual. Originally from South Africa, I currently reside in Wiltshire, UK.
My subjects include animals, humans and nature. I explore the fragility of nature and the hubris of mankind through anecdotal paintings. Additionally I use symbolic still life paintings to examine the vulnerability and mortality of endangered wildlife and plant species. I strive to encourage a symbiotic and harmonious relationship between humans and all other creatures on this beautiful earth by creating colourful , figurative and surrealistic paintings that provoke thought and inspire change.
Contextual Statement:
My art installation situates itself within the tradition of environmental and conservation art. It aims to provoke a profound reflection on environmental stewardship and humanity’s impact on our world. Inspired by conceptual artists like James Grashow, who explored the lifecycle of an art piece from its conception to its destruction in “Corrugated Fountain,” Felix Gonzalez-Torres, known for creating works that encourage viewer participation such as “Untitled (Portrait of Ross),” where a pile of candy was slowly consumed by the audience, paralleling his lover’s body wasting away from HIV, and Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, whose artwork “The Substitute” highlights the extinction of the Northern White Rhino, my project similarly engages with themes of creation, conservation, destruction, extinction, the ephemeral nature of art and life, and audience participation.
In Greg Garrard’s Ecocriticism, Ursula Heise says, “species come to matter when they become associated with stories that particular cultures tell about their own origins…” (Garrard, 2023, P152) This narrative approach is reflected in my installation where I created seven oil paintings on mirrors, juxtaposing the biblical creation story and humanity’s destruction of the earth. I suspended them at Talos Art Gallery for four days. On the final day, attendees were invited to participate by taking a stone from a bucket and placing it in front of a painting. The act of taking a stone seemingly disrupted the balance of the paintings, causing them to fall and shatter, symbolising humanity’s destruction of the earth. Claire Bishop, in Participation, explores the role of participation in contemporary art, “…physical involvement is considered an essential precursor to social change” (Bishop, 2006, p.11). In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Kimmerer emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. She notes, “Gifts … establish a particular relationship, an obligation to give and to receive,…” (Kimmerer, 2020, p25). This idea aligns with the symbolic act of placing the stones down in front of a painting, representing the balance and respect needed for environmental sustainability.
Deborah Bird Rose writes, “here at the edge of extinction…, when the worlds that one loves… are being trashed.” (Rose DB, 2017 p52). Jamie Lorimer discusses conservation in a human-dominated world, advocating for, “… stewardship based on diverse, reflexive awareness of the always entangled nature of humans with their environment” (Lorimer,2015, p4). These writings align with my work’s theme of the interconnectedness of human actions and environmental impact.
Grant Kester, in Conversation Pieces, states “Dialogical art projects often leave little or no physical trace due to their ephemeral nature” (Kester, 2004, p.190). My installation was destroyed; all that remains are photos, the edited film, a small painting of a Lily, and a mosaic I recreated from the broken mirrors.
Previous projects had me collaborating with Network Rail, talking about animal extinction, the Anthropocene, the role of big corporations in animal conservation and human relationships with animals. I have long planned to create a work of art that was either auto destructive or was destroyed by me or the audience to provoke thought and inspire change in individuals. I am intrigued by the idea of destruction as art, reflecting humanity’s current trajectory. We face significant environmental challenges like pollution, extinction and global warming, all driven by human actions. Yet many feel powerless against these problems. My art aims to awaken people, showing them that they can support organisations working towards solutions even if they don’t know what to do individually.
The use of mirrors aligned with my ideas perfectly. The facts that they are reflective and introspective, and that people are superstitious about breaking them were not lost on me. Aside from seven years of bad luck, seven is considered a lucky number by many and according to Genesis, the world was created in seven days.
Collaborators included Richard Atkinson- Willes from Talos Gallery and Greg Powell who assisted with the suspension of the paintings and the creation of a safe and effective release system. Roger, Laura, and Jonathon Powell filmed the event, Shene Guilbride assisted with the editing and afterwards Amy Powell interviewed the audience members who also collaborated by participating so thoughtfully in the stone placing.
Project Documentation:
The following seven images are the paintings that made up the installation. They were all done with oil onto mirror:
“Safety first” 65 x 90cm, “The golden calf” 70 x 102cm, “90 seconds till midnight” 60 x 86cm, “Selfies” 101 x135cm
“Broken Eve” 76 x 108cm, “The Tree of Life” 62 x 88cm, “Wishing upon a Star” 63 x 92 cm
The following images are of the installation as seen from left and right, please note that the sculptures are not mine.
The following images show audience interaction where they took stones from a bucket and placed them under a painting that resonated with them. Some images also show the viewers faces reflected in the paintings.
The following images show the paintings after they had fallen. Some of them didn’t break, so I had to smash them with a sledgehammer.
“The Lily of the Valley”, seen above on the right, was hung on the wall behind the installation, and was revealed once the others had fallen. It stands as a symbol of hope.
In the week following my public outcome, I sifted through the broken glass and created a mosaic onto another mirror. I poured resin over it to set it permanently. It is titled “Humanity Reflected” and is 80cm x 110cm.
Please follow the link to see the You Tube video that I made of the event.https://youtu.be/bgdSAUOuEsM?si=L7oOB8bPrRF08sEL
Additional information:
Please see Instagram @artbycindypowell, my website https;//www.artbycindypowell.co.uk and my Facebook page @Art by Cindy Powell