The golden pine cone
water colour, fine line pigment ink on paper
50 pages hand illustrated book based on the true story and testimonies of the devastating disasters in Northern Evia between 2021 – 2023
“Many voices that are still unheard, and a story that has so much to teach, that can’t be forgotten.”
During my time with the people of Northern Evia, I came across a powerful story that encompasses the complexity and multifaceted character of climate change today. While climate change is typically framed in terms of atmospheric shifts or natural disasters, it also has an underlying intrinsic economic and political character, especially how “climate change” is used and applied.
The story of northern Evia unravels a timeline of events displaying a stark view of how political negligence, opportunistic economics, administrative failure and lack of climate knowledge converged to turn a natural disaster into devastation.
I constructed a fairy tale based on the testimonies I collected during my visit, not to escape from reality but rather as a way to reframe it. Knowledge manifests in different forms, and through time it has travelled furthest with parables, stories and folklore, encoding moral and environmental insight in symbolic forms. This is especially true of children, as tales become the bridge to the world they inherit from their parents.
We use tales and metaphors to simplify and describe the complex environments we live in, and by being positioned as the audience, we become able to reflect on ourselves. There is a story here that asks more questions than it answers.
I dared to look outside
ink on paper
Evolution / Greatness / Future / Progress
Where all these come from, sometimes they wonder, looking at their own reflection in each other's eyes. That is the only point of focus.
A surrealist automatic drawing one would say, suppresses conscious control and allows the mind to wander free of restraints, accessing material from the unconscious mind. Well, here is an unconscious mind tainted by reality and haunted by the present state of affairs,
unable to escape its humanity and transcend to a higher level of expression.
- Will the machine surpass me?
- How cares? There is an (r)evolution coming.
- Really? It was about time.
- Sure, but you are not invited to participate.
'My drawing work ranges from humorous social commentary to a floating recording of my experience whilst identifying my place within current social exchanges.'
