EARTH IS ONE
Is een aangrijpend kunstwerk over de gevolgen van klimaatverandering. De ingrijpende gevolgen van droogte, overstroming en bosbranden maken dat komende generaties voor een duivels dilemma komen te staan. Hoe houden we hoop, hoe werken we samen om de kinderen van nu een toekomst te geven?
© Valarummathy Nagamuthu (Spring 2023)
“Time and tide wait for no one” are forces of a nature and magnitude beyond human control. For millennia humanity shaped its own environment. Sometimes in harmony with nature, more often not.
In my Climate Change Cave Art, I use my personal creativity, inspiration and ways of expression, to voice, illustrate and record - the current escalating problems of climate change, causing destruction to nature and humankind.
The images are an expression of everything that humanity currently faces - the consequences of its own errors, the rape of Mother Nature. My objective is not to merely record – but to contribute, as an artist, to the call for awakening – to act now and hopefully prevent things from getting worse.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
This is one long 'cave-artwork' consisting of 5 joint panels or 'caves'.
- CAVE 1 - THERE IS NO WATER - ONLY THE WATER OF TEARS
- CAVE 2 - WHEN WATER KILLS
- CAVE 3 - INFERNO COME TO LIFE
- CAVE 4 - THE DOOR OF DESPAIR
- CAVE 5 - HANDS OF HOPE
(note: the richness and depth and detail is very high in the original. Some sacrifice had to be made in the images presented here due to photography and file compression).
INTRODUCTION ON THE ARTWORK
“Time and tide wait for no one” are forces of a nature and magnitude beyond human control. For millennia humanity shaped its own environment. Sometimes in harmony with nature, more often not. In my Climate Change Cave Art, I use my personal creativity, inspiration and ways of expression, to voice, illustrate and record - the current escalating problems of climate change, causing destruction to nature and humankind. The images are an expression of everything that humanity currently faces - the consequences of its own errors, the rape of Mother Nature. My objective is not to merely record – but to contribute, as an artist, to the call for awakening – to act now and hopefully prevent things from getting worse.
THE STYLE I USED FOR THIS ARTWORK
I used the style of Cave Art to follow in the footsteps of our long-forgotten ancestors and record the present – of which I am a witness – for future generations. As it is also a “writing on the wall”, this Climate Change Cave Art serves to not only to chronicle the unfolding horrors as I witness them – but to create awareness, to learn, to change the trajectory of the collision course we are on for the current and future generations.
Our ancestors did the same – they carved in stone, painted upon rock faces – to express “I was here”, and “this is what I saw”, whether realistic or symbolic - to record their experiences and visions. Likewise, my Climate Change Cave Art shows the excruciating circumstances that millions are now forced to endure. The extreme drought, the floods, the all-consuming forest fires.
OUR FUTURE VIEWERS
How will my Climate Change Cave Art be viewed in the future? Who will walk through this cave, shine a torch upon its walls and discover this record of the Early 21st Century? By then they will know the cost of our boundless greed – both as a toll on human lives as well as on Mother Nature. Normally, cave art is hard to date, but mine is not – all images are inspired by real events. They will flash their torch-light upon the walls and reflect – did humanity heed the call of all the warnings?
Never before was human activity so truly global, so unprecedented in scope and scale, so rapid. Earth has seen many oscillations in temperature and conditions. Previous mass-extinctions were caused by impacts of asteroids and global volcanic events. But never before has one species caused an impact with a magnitude as we are watching now. And what we see is an ever expanding, ever accelerating, all encompassing unfolding calamity, that we are unable to control – not only as individuals, but also as individual countries.
OUR HOPE
Our only hope and options lies not with individuality, but with society as a whole – humankind as a whole. The small hands of the newborn clutching to the old, wrinkled hands – trusting that it will provide for a safe space to grow up in. Paradoxically – that “society”, consists of individuals like you and me. If we do not raise our voices, if we fail to act, if we give in to dejection and the depression that this problem is too big for us.
If we let ourselves get numbed by the news every day and fail to nurture the spark of optimism and hope – then all is truly lost. Getting (back) up takes courage and determination. Perhaps we will never see the fruits of our labor. Our ancestors who created their art on the walls of every rock-face on this planet – would never have thought they would be seen thousands of years later. Perhaps we will only see small incremental change – well that would be a great sign of hope!
HOW THE CLIMATE CHANGE CAVE ART WAS MADE
My Climate Change Cave Art is a blend of painting on a “rock” surface as well as on “paper”. It is really a paper cave without losing the naturalness and feeling of the rock cave.
MY INSPIRATION FOR THE IMAGES
For the images I was very inspired by my colleagues, the original cave artists and I made an exhaustive study of their work. For the more contemporary elements I was very inspired by the famous Dutch master of etching: Ru van Rossem (1924-2007) . I personally own a number of his majestic works and together with a friend perused his large collection of originals, encompassing the highlights of the oeuvre of Van Rossem. His mastery of colors, of detail and yet overview inspires me. All the images of his travels – stored not in sketchbooks but in his heart – recombined on the paper. For me as well - all the images from current events – amalgamated into the final expression on my rock walls.
I also explored real caves to feel what that world is like – the play of dark and light. Total darkness, the sounds of dripping water – the sacredness of all the calcite “beings” there. Likewise, I followed in the footsteps of the cave artists of yore – following the contours of my ebru-rocks. I worked in a darkened studio, with minimal light and heating – to recreate the environment that they knew. Panel by panel – in my cave – the art grew till my rock wall reached a total length 4.5 meters when it was completed.
HOW THE BACKGROUNDS WERE MADE
The backgrounds were made using Ebru Art – the ancient way of using earth pigments, floating on water to create patterns, which are then transferred onto paper. All my pieces share that same humble yet sacred origin. They all went the long journey of joyful artisanal labor. The blessing of sheer hand labor, the tools – all natural – earth and watery. Born from gritty pigments, all colors were crushed for long hours with my own hands to fine dust. They then matured for years in their safe confinement of their glass bottles before they start to talk to me and express their inner nature. Row after row of bottles, carefully labeled and dated. Each identity know to me, from their birth to the moment they will leave the brush and start their journey on the water.
Finally, my colors are freed in my trays – liberated from their confinement and riding on the hairs of my brush before they take leave and fly through the air to land on the waters - as a veil of pigment. That new hue on the water, a blush that sprang from my brush, thin as a breath, embracing the surface of the water in my tray. The play of tension on the water surface – all colors now are free as clouds, pushing and pulling: ebru: “cloud art”.
Who is to tell what they do? How will they interact once landed? Will they talk, co-operate? My hands selected them, I encouraged them, nurtured them and brought them to life. I offered them to the water, and now the universe will decide, it has the last word. Then their play is committed to paper, for now their dance comes to rest. On the paper they can continue and complete their journey when they reach your hearts and minds. For joy, wonder, amazement and curiosity – for all the incredible limitless possibilities nature brings.
I have been an ebru artist for over a decade and these pieces for my Climate Change Cave Art were made in this very artisanal way – by very slowly accumulating an amazing 9 layers of ebru onto paper for each panel. Then I worked on the images using acrylic and pastel crayons.