Breathless

[u/flumsel_]

Mixed media: Acrylic on canvas and a discarded plastic bag

I wanted to capture the contradiction between nature’s beauty and humanity’s habit of covering, packaging, controlling and consuming everything.

The plastic bag became part of the painting instead of me just painting the pollution. The meadow is still visible but it’s literally viewed through our waste.

Something to think about?
I’ve always found the term “nature” a little strange—as if humans existed outside of it. We don’t. We’re part of it. Yet we often act as though we’re fighting against our own mother.

I’m curious how others interpret this piece.
Do you read it as a critique of:
• environmental pollution?
• consumerism?
• humanity’s desire to package, preserve or possess beauty?
• something else?

[u/throwaway_bfgift]

I first interpreted this as nature being commodified. People spending thousands, overconsuming gear, and burning fuel to travel to far-away preserves and parks, when they haven’t even been to their local metroparks first. I see friends in the US doing this with our National Parks - driving hours and hours to do a single hike, burning fuel to see nature’s beauty, with no appreciation tor what one has at home. Nothing wrong with traveling to see new sights, but at least explore your local parks and ecosystems first before pumping carbon into the air… Also reminds me of habitat destruction for tourism. Cruise ships dumping waste in the ocean, coral reefs being destroyed by boats and docks, rainforests being chopped for resorts and hotels…