Story Text:
“Holisis” is a story about the deep understanding of nature, merging and becoming one with our surroundings. A story to understand that we are inseparable of nature, it lives in us and we in it. Everything screams for a symbiosis.
Emphasizing the diversity of nature, “Holisis” aims to dispel negative perceptions of the Earth’s ignored or unseen elements. Every organism in the life cycle is irreplaceable and creates a delicate balance that needs to be maintained.
I draw attention to the transitory qualities of the biological life cycle which directly confront death and decay. Having worked as an ecologist allows me to study nature in its details and relationships. What would conventionally be referred to as hideous or macabre, I view as beautiful and valuable.
Juxtaposing common perceptions and associations of beauty and decay, “Holisis” supports the concept of eternal interdependency within nature as a whole.
To show our inseparable connection with nature, I braid algae as carefully as a mother would braid their child’s hair and portray them as such. I place insects on my skin, grow mushrooms out of my ear and paint with my blood. In my photographic work, I am constantly longing to engage in the controversy of beauty and ugliness, the unfamiliar and ignored or shunned aspects of nature. The pictures explore the tactile interaction among plants and natural creatures as a direct intimate connection with the environment.
Nature can only be fully understood by turning inwards and must be experienced through feelings.
We are part of the whole. Not better, not worse, One.
Letter of Motivation:
Science is by far not enough anymore to internalize our social and environmental challenges. Now we are asked to look beyond the polluting world system we have become accustomed to and develop a critical interdisciplinary understanding of current concerns and challenges. It requires a new approach of how to spread knowledge and engage with people. We need to demand a transformation, action for our environment.
My first undergraduate studies were in environmental conservation. During my time working as an ecologist, I realized that scientific evidence alone is not enough to make the world at large act on our pressing challenges accordingly.
I was on the quest for other ways to make change in the world; change that would not just spread awareness, but would also steep deep into the hearts and guts of people so they change their behavior. This motivated me to turn to visual arts, to image-based storytelling freed from language barriers, as my form of communication. Following this urge, I decided to study photography at the International Center of Photography in New York. I am imagining and creating new ecological relations and livable futures with my approach in storytelling, exploring the unique capacities that art has to engage with the most pressing environmental issues of our time.
Being accepted into this mentoring program would allow me to further strengthen my path into the transdisciplinary intersection of art and ecology. I am looking for
spaces to create and exchange knowledge, to interact with other journalists and artists specialized in environmental storytelling.
For this program, I would like to investigate further the important role kelp has for our planet and its biodiversity. In my past work, I often return to use kelp and other species of algae, taking over an essential role in my art practice. Kelp, judged by many as that ugly slime on the beach, speaks to me through its resilience, beauty, and consistency; it is a wonderfully functional product of nature. I wish to form a new and profound appreciation for it that will raise interest in its conservation, create awareness of kelp forests and their importance in our ecosystem, and unveiling its workings as an interconnected system.
This is a unique and very fitting program for me, because it offers many things I want to learn, and enriches my creative and ecological mind. I am looking forward to contributing as a creative, energetic, and critical thinker, and positively engaging with the group.
