My art delves into the disconnection from what was once a cultural constant - the familiar night sky - and its replacement by the unfamiliar glow of urban development. Through painting and layered image transfer techniques reminiscent of frescos, I explore the intricacies of urban expansion. This journey isn’t just about the transformation of landscapes; it's a commentary on the alienation from the night sky, a consequence of relentless urbanization and light pollution. Where once there were stars and planets, now street lights and headlights cast their artificial constellations, crafting new celestial maps in our urban firmament. I navigate the narrowing skies, where stars fade into the encroaching glow of urban life. This transformation, a reflection of climate anxiety, propels my creative process. The phrase “The world is ending” is not just a slogan; it is an echo of a society grappling with the loss of connection to the natural world. My pieces reflect this dislocation, the nostalgia for a remembered landscape, and the anxiety of existing in a world where nowhere feels like home, neither physically nor spiritually. Suggesting that our estrangement from the dark skies and the stars is not just a loss of beauty, but a loss of our inherent connection to the universe. This loss, a result of light pollution, is more than an aesthetic concern; it impacts wildlife, human health, and our very sense of place in the cosmos.
I am invigorated by experimentation, by pushing materials beyond their conventional boundaries to craft something distinct. This often results in a loss of control that helps me come to terms with my own anxiety. In my research, I draw inspiration from Scientific diagrams, writers like Ursula Le Guin and W.G. Sebald, artists like Edvard Munch and Albert Oehlen. Lately I have been obsessed with a line from Lem's "Solaris" as it reflects the unfamiliarity of our own sky. “I could not recognize a single constellation; in this region of the galaxy the sky was unfamiliar to me.” Even at home the night sky is unfamiliar to me as if I were living in another galaxy.
