Biologist David George Haskell writes, ‘we’re all—trees, humans, insects, birds, bacteria—pluralities. Life is embodied network. These living networks are not places of omnibenevolent Oneness. Instead, they are where ecological and evolutionary tensions between cooperation and conflict are negotiated and resolved.’ (2017)

 

My current series, 'Another Kind of Fire' (2021), is inspired by Haskell’s statement and reflects on current scientific research around increased temperatures, and effects on oceans, coral reefs, forests, extreme floods, droughts and wildfires, mass internal and external migration influenced by these changes. 

 

The aquatint etching editions for this series I produced when I attended The Crown Point Press summer workshop in San Francisco in 2019. I am drawn to the etching process for this portfolio, intrigued and inspired by the process of using various resists, (grounds) combined with acid and heat. I personally favour the soapground aquatint technique, where the resist of soap remains positive (white) in the final etched image. The etching process itself reflects the tension between co-operation and conflict. The colour palette in this portfolio of work lies mostly towards the warmer spectrum, oranges, reds and yellows, as a way of further expressing the idea of increased temperatures. 

 

• Haskell, D G 2017, The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors, Viking Press, USA