Can Art Save Us From Extinction..

‘Can Art Save Us From Extinction?’… This line was proposed to me on a recent Sunday as I was clearing our garden from debris, caused by a fallen tree in the wake of Storm Franklin. It came in the form of a text from my brother, sharing a link to the Knepp Wilding project’s instagram as they talked about their recent collaborative project with Derby University at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I don’t associate my brother with social media, he’s more hands on with life, so I was intrigued that something about this specific article had obviously resonated with him. As I read on I found my own resonance, understanding the potential for this project to bridge our shared values surrounding environmentalism. A turning point in both of our perspectives on how deep we need to think about rebuilding Britain’s environment came when our Dad leant me a book titled ‘Wilding’, written by Isabella Tree of the celebrated Knepp rewilding project. The minute I finished it I rang Tom up and insisted he read it too. Since that point we have a united understanding that we need to find ways to integrate the concept of rewilding into our lives at a daily level, not just as a passive interest. Easier said than done.?

This piece of writing is an instinctive reflection on the back of discovering the YSP project, in relation to my own progressive adoption of subtle activities and behaviour changes, that, however minor, contribute to the wider societal goals of rebuilding Britain’s biodiversity and restoring a fairly balanced food chain.

In essence, Yorkshire Sculpture Park has committed to an ongoing programme of Art installations, intending to catalyse human connection with nature through physical exposure and engagement. For me, the project represents the symbiotic, and necessary, collaboration found at the intersection of conceptual artwork, enterprising environmental initiatives and fundamental research programmes, all supported at an institutional level and pioneered by self-motivating individuals.?

For context, I would fully recommend exploring these four pages, representing the voice of each of the collaborative partners involved;

The Oak Project is co-founded by Charlie Burrell of the Knepp rewilding project - https://oakproject.org.uk/

A briefing from The Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby - https://findingnatureblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/naturerelationship.pdf?

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park press release - https://ysp.org.uk/media/press-releases/the-oak-project-announces-a-new-partnership-with-yorkshire-sculpture-park-and-the-university-of-derby-can-art-save-us-from-extinction

And words from the Artists involved in the first commission, Heather Peak and Ivan Morrison - https://ysp.org.uk/openair/heather-peak-and-ivan-morison-silence-alone-in-a-world-of-wounds?

The first permanent commission in the series was a piece titled ‘Silence - Alone in a World of Wounds’ by artists Heather Peak and Ivan Morrison. Without experiencing this piece first-hand I wouldn’t want to comment too thoroughly about the effectiveness of it’s message, but from the outside looking in I am definitely open to it’s intent.

In the artist’s own words “Our work for the Oak Project must open the viewers’ eyes to the natural world, wounds and all, and through the shared grief create action – turning towards the world for what it has to teach us. We propose a space that is a kind of education of attention [I love this phrase], that offers a protracted introduction in seeing things, hearing and feeling them. This work is a gift of time and attention.”?

My initial engagement with this piece is to understand the appeal of physical forms constructed within natural settings, and the emotional impact that can be generated instantly, purely from the sight of intentional and well-considered structures. A structure such as ‘Silence’ has the unique ability to invite dialogue in an authentic and accessible manner, and if I speak for myself, I feel that on first encounter I would intuitively project a trusted voice onto the originators of this structure, psychologically submitting myself to a position of learning, as opposed to critique, the latter of which I may have applied to other sculptures within the YSP grounds.?

This idea of submission to a state of learning is something I have recently found a space for in my time away from design work. For the past year I have been working towards a self-published Art book, which I will intentionally not spend many words contextualising, other than to say that the fundamental concept and visual outcome have been, and will continue to be, solely influenced by primary experience, through processes of first-hand immersion amongst interweaving themes, authentically portraying the liminality of ideas as they present themselves. I understand that this last passage is ironically strong, considering I said I wouldn’t spend words, but truthfully, that is where I stand currently with the ideation, and will welcome the unknown directions I am taken throughout the remaining course of its journey. This is why the term ‘Education of attention’ sticks with me. I’d like to think about this term further and ideally offer up some tangible thoughts around why this term relates to my world view, but for now I will touch on one of the aforementioned ‘immersive’ processes that I have started to see conceptual value within.?

One of the most valuable recent changes in my life is that I now have a garden space to call my own. Other than the obvious benefits, I’m starting to find real value in the way that I learn whilst I embark on my own rewilding project. It feels like a distant but familiar process, one that I’m presuming was last awake when I was a child, but that I can feel clearly now, and feel more prominently than any institutional learning I’ve associated with since my childhood. When I say ‘feel clearly’, I mean that I have noticed I’m not just taking in new information, like the names of beneficial weeds, or when the right time to prune is, but that I’m opening new ways of understanding. For example, I can better visualise multiple timeframes in parallel to each other, tangibly visualising benefits in 2 or 3 years time whilst crawling about insignificantly in the dirt and rain. This requires a tangible faith in the importance of your own actions, fighting off the urges for instant satisfaction that we generally depend on day-to-day. I've also found that I don't place as much merit on naming identification as I now do on understanding the role that a particular species of plant plays. Storing an archive of names now seems too possessive, too much like consumption and control over the natural world, rather than a genuine respect for the significance an individual plant plays within a chain of events that extends beyond my own lifetime. These seem like very minor aspects, but I’ve noticed that they actually have implications on a philosophical level, therefore altering the lens I see the rest of the world through, and in doing so, shaping the trajectory of my development as a creative. Through physical immersion and two-way dialogue with the natural systems available to me I have been able to experience alternatives to the single perspective I have held as truth. This has been the start of my education of attention. This awareness is something that I want to harness as I work on my book, forming a central conceptual pillar that celebrates a broader spectrum of understanding found through natural interaction.?

I have a strong inkling that I, and others, could tap into this same state of learning in the presence of Heather and Ivan’s artwork at YSP, and that for some, this may be either the only accessible interaction of this merit, or just the first which opens the door. Either way, I am pleased that Tom shared the link with me, I am hopeful that this programme continues to grow and I am committed to reconfiguring the way I learn.

Explore more about the Artists; https://peakmorison.org/