An exhibition of drawings, 8th November 2019 at POST

 

These drawings started life as a simple celebration of trees. The idea was to capture their beauty as expressed partly by their place in the landscape.

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What happened though, while I was drawing them, was that the themes and ideas that were going around in my head started to affect the way in which I portrayed these trees, and the places they grow in.

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One theme is humanity's impact on the environment. The smudging and erasing techniques I've used reflect the wiping out of our precious natural world.

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I also use these lines and smudges to portray movement, like a view briefly glimpsed while rushing by in a car. This of course reflects the pace at which we choose (or are forced) to live our lives.

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These themes tie together. We all strive for meaning and validation in our lives, but in the pursuit of that quest, we sometimes miss the simple reflections of meaning and belonging that are presented to us by our local natural landscapes. We also sometimes choose to ignore the fact that these landscape are often under threat.

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Another theme that I am dwelling on is the question of belonging. Many of the trees that I've drawn are alien species, brought here many years ago. They look settled in this landscape, and as if they have always belonged, but there is an inherent tension in their continued existence because they are not strictly of the landscape, in botanical terms.