Human and Nature, Connection
It is true that there is a link between the natural world and man, not just for satisfying his or her fundamental needs but also in his quest to appreciate the order in which natural world was formed. The appreciation of the order in which natural world was created is seen in the ability of man to relate with the natural phenomena, and in the deep deliberation , which led to man learning about divine via artistic work as can be seen in the great civilizations. However, over the years, this connection between man and nature is seen to have been steadily dwindling as a result of scientific and technological innovation. Humans in some degree are trying to segregate and themselves from nature either through alternative ways of satisfying his or her basic needs.
Personally, I ascribe to the school of thought that advances the theory that humans are part of nature and that a connection between the two exists. However, other schools of thought advance the theory that humans are only God's creation and do not have any connection with other animals or nature at large. For this reason, I am motivated to attempt and create artistic impressions that communicate, support and will be able to remind the whole universe how important our connection with nature is, especially in these times of persistent natural disasters. Almost each and everyone living human being depend on nature by consuming the products of nature for survival. For instance, in my culture, an essential or staple food for humans is rice which is a product of nature which keeps people of my culture connected to nature. I will utilize rice and its various characteristics in an artistic way to try and illustrate the connection humans have with nature. In addition, I will also investigate works by other prominent contemporary and historical artists that have illustrated in one way or the other, the connection between humans and nature.
[...] This group I represent using half white and half brown rice. The third group of people are those native people living in jungles or in natural environments and wholesomely depending on nature for their survival. I represent this group of people with whole brown rice. Why white and brown? Rice is naturally brown when it is first harvested. As it is being refined, it becomes whiter. This in relation to humans and nature, before the advent of civilization, humans wholly depended on nature for everything. [...]
[...] The above describe pieces of art that I came up with were inspired by some ancient contemporary and historical artists such as "Ai Weiwei", “Andy Goldsworthy,” and “Kate MacDowell.” Andy Goldsworthy is a sculptor who uses his natural surroundings to create artwork. He experiments and explores with different kinds of natural material such as grasses, stones, sand, snow and ice, wood and leaves. For Andy, his materials of choice are determined by season and weather. He fully relies on nature for his creations. For instance, consider the image below This is one of Andy's artwork which he named the Red Pool. [...]
[...] Such artwork by Andy reinforces the relationship between human and nature. Andy's work shows that humans have got some ability to control nature, however, nature somehow eventually controls us. On the other hand, Ai Wei Wei artistic work also inspire my artwork of illustrating the connection between human and nature. Ai uses traditional Chinese craftsmanship and material as well as current technology in his artwork. His artwork not only thematize and reflect the happenings of the 20th century, it attempts just like all other living art, to leave an eternally flowing mark into the present. [...]
[...] Is there a connection between humans and nature? How does this relationship between human and nature work? I decided that I would use art to visualize my thoughts regarding the connection between human and nature. To do this, I chose to use rice since coming from South Korea where rice is the staple food consumed by almost every Korean on a daily basis, it indicates the existence of the connection between human and nature even if one is living in a city. [...]
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