red & green
a multi-media response to the phenomena of plant blindness
I use grass as a metaphor for Plant Blindness as it is often ignored, flooded with weed killer or ripped up and replaced by imitations - its importance for biodiversity and beauty unacknowledged. I’m taking what is beneath our feet and placing it in front of our eyes. Red presents the growing number of plants on the IUCN Red List of endangered species whilst Green demonstrates growth, hope and strength.
green wall plaques
Coloured stoneware clay is rolled and pressed with grasses. Once dry each frond is meticulously glazed and single fired.
Each handmade plaque measure approximately 22cm square and 2cm deep.
red guerilla tiles
Reclaimed remainder Johnson tiles are used to reduce the impact of making. Each tile is individually glazed and decorated with decals of grass prints. These tiles are situated around exhibition spaces as an alert - a warning of the dangers of loss of bio-diversity.
red & green moving image: meditation on the loss of biodiversity
The properties of clay express the issue in a collaboration with composer Julian Cox. Below is an edit of the 7 minute final film which screens alongside the green plaques or in an outdoors space.
The phenomena of Plant Blindness, highlighted in 1999 by botanists Wandersee & Schussler, demonstrates that humans don’t acknowledge plants in the environment in the same way they do animals. This lack of awareness masks the fact that 2/5ths of plant species are endangered and that plant conservation is under funded and under recognised.
I use ubiquitous tile forms alongside moving image and print in this muli-media project which continues to expand into print and new iterations following its inception as my final degree work.