The element of the theme I was inspired by was the idea of climate change, the exploitation of natural resources and the general harming of our planet at the cost of nature. The concept explores the two opposite, futures of our planet. The whale symbolizes a dystopian, urban, unnatural world with nature carrying civilization on its back and being exploited. To contrast, I wanted this ‘future’ to be larger to emphasize its importance and show how this is the more likely option. The turtle symbolizes the idealistic, green, symbiotic future although this is an option and not all hope is lost is the turtle swimming towards the plastic bag showing we are not heading in the right direction. I think this is seen through my use of color and medium. The use of the graphite makes the whale-future seem depressing and undesirable. The use of watercolor makes the turtle-future appear vibrant and full of light and life and favorable. I wanted to create an almost ‘layer like’ composition and by having the whale be larger it shows the weight of this idea/future. For the details of this piece it was important that humans were still included in the turtle-future in a less destructive manner. I wanted to highlight both the causes of negative environmental effects (e.g oil drums, urbanization, power, pollution) and the potential solutions (wind power and reforestation).
Not All Hope Is Lost
