To be natural is such a difficult pose to keep up.
-Oscar Wilde-
The most powerful idea about nature is that it is natural. More specifically that it embodies universal truth because it is definite, self-evident, authentic and innocent. However, humankind is implicitly a part of nature and its artifice (buildings, fountains, picnic tables) is as much a part of the ecology of the planet as forests, rivers and squirrels. My work is concerned with an evaluation of where and how human contrivance begins to influence or affect our understanding and inevitably our interaction with the environment.
Ecoficial is an investigation into how the constructed ecosystem of the park embodies a particular conception of what nature is or should be. Increasingly our culture regards nature as scenery or prop, something to be admired as monumental, sacred and sublime or exploited for leisure or recreation, something contradictory or separate from ourselves.
Through the re-creation of an odd, mock park, including the archetypal features of the garden fountain, forested area, picnic retreat and conservatory space, I wish to reveal humankind’s tendency to project its own concepts, beliefs and predicaments into its environment and the flora and fauna that inhabit it.
