Blog 2 – Reflection on nature
One thing that I considered crucially through the lectures is that the importance of a relationship with nature and human being. One of the better lives lecture done by Kate Fletcher is made me believe earnestly that how much we are living in danger by taking certain actions, which obviously causes of damage to the Earth, without noticing it. We are facing a crisis that we have already realized probably, yet not taking seriously since we tend to think that things that is occurring in other countries (such as deforestation, the sea level from rising, decreasing of large number of species) are way to far from our daily life, however it’s not true unfortunately. The escalating changes in the Earth’s condition are accelerating at a tremendous rate, and the changes were evident in the index she showed to us. The graph signified that all living systems have declined and most of reduced by more than 50% since 1970. Moreover, there are nine planetary boundaries covered the Earth, and three of them have already been transgressed.
This lecture reminded me of the project that I did in the last term, which is the looks (hair and makeup) combined with the global issue of plastics and ocean. As everyone knows, plastics are also the factor of earth destruction and the power of it will be getting stronger with the times if we keep relying and overusing on the advantage of plastics. One of the artists that I want to refer in this context is Tuula Narhinen, who is a visual artist based in Helsinki in Finland. Her works’ themes are mostly about landscape, natural phenomena and environmental issues. “Baltic Sea Plastique” is one of the great works indicating the crisis of the sea contaminated by plastics.
Since I’m taking a class of Contemporary Portrait Photography in the Better Lives Unit, I was inspired by the artist while I’m researching to get some inspirations for the final outcomes. Due to the fact that we are learning fashion with the aspect of sustainability, diversity and social responsibility, I thought it’s a great idea to combine global issues in terms of durability and photography. I am going to attempt to photograph blessings of nature on daily life with portrait photographs. The reason why I decided to do that through my project is that I want to convey “little changes make big differences” by our efforts such as reducing the number of plastics, water and exhaust gas. Although this is relatively gentle actions in the context, however, many people aren’t trying these as you can see from the situation we are living. Therefore, it’s vital to take action one by one more zealously.
To sum up, the realization of how we need to act on and pay attention right now to creating better lives is what made me more creative.
References :
Fletcher, K. (2020) ‘Nature’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 13 February