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Presentation 1: Bronze mushrooms presented on live moss built into a horizontal plinth. Viewers can place their ear to the mushrooms to hear the sounds of the forest. Interactive and aesthetic. Connotations of a coffin. Clinical.
Presentation 2: three tree stumps, each mushroom plays birdsong over the years and how it is declining over time. The moss/lichen on the stumps lessens also, a visual representation of the decay of nature due to climate change/other factors. Able to decipher between time gaps by having them presented on separate plinths.
Along the coastlines of the world, a great variety of shells can be found. Seashells are made by the animals that live inside them and all shells grow steadily outward. Shells are among the most remarkable designs found in nature. Examples are the chambered nautilus, the sundial shell, and the triton shell. Shells are usually perceived as feminine; a symbol of birth, good fortune, and resurrection. Bivalved molluscs represent the womb and fertility.
Symbolisms of life, fertility, luck, travel, love.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses items and people to symbolize many different things. These symbolic things include Piggy’s glasses, Simon’s epilepsy, the Lord of the Flies, and arguably the most important symbol, the conch shell. The conch shell was first found in the water by Piggy, who then comes up with the idea of using the conch as a blow horn to call for meetings. Throughout Lord of the Flies, the conch shell becomes not only associated with Ralph and his leadership, but with Piggy and his intuitive and wise ideas and Jack and his dictator-like, irresponsible authority. The conch shell, representing law and order, assisted in the election of Ralph as chief and ultimately determines the future of the island. However, as time progresses, the conch shell loses its power, when which allows Jack to rise as chief of his tribe. The conch eventually becomes only a reminder of how rational the boys used to be. Once the conch shell shatters and Piggy dies due to Roger’s illogical decision of triggering the lever and releasing the boulder, the era of rationality completely ends, marking the beginning of a complete savage takeover. At first, the conch represents democracy, power, and civilized behaviors, but in the end, the destruction of the conch shell illustrates the innate evil in human beings and the abrupt end of a civilization.
From the very beginning of the novel, more specifically Chapter 1, the conch shell is used as a blow horn to symbolize order, control,
I am always learning new things about nature. Whilst making spore prints with mushrooms, I felt that they were similar to our fingerprints. Each spore print is unique, just like our fingerprints.
rings in otoliths, similar to tree stumps
As I thought about this more, I discovered further similarities. Like that of tree rings and otoliths (the inner ear bones of fish). Each ring in a tree stump represents a year of that trees life; which is the same with rings in a otolith:
Top: mushroom spore print, my thumb print. Bottom: tree stump, fossilised whale otolith.
I wanted to create something that showed these similarities, and so framed examples. If I were to place this into a gallery setting I would provide information on what each example is. It would be like a museum/science exhibition, educational as well as visually pleasing. I want to reveal to others the connections that happen in my mind when I am learning about nature and how closely our lives are intwined.
Whilst on some nature outings, I wanted to experiment with some filming.
Nature is very relaxing and comforting for me, and it is very therapeutic. I wanted to try and convey this through the medium of film, so I took out a camera with HD video from the stores.
I didn’t have a strong plan in mind, but just wanted to get out and see what caught my eye, as I often do with my photography.
Upon walking through the forest, it was a very windy day and when I looked up I noticed how much the trees were swaying above.
I feel that trees to us are such strong, sturdy objects. but in fact, they are very fragile; as shown by the amount that were blown over recently during storm Arwen, and other storms alike. I see a connection with trees and fungi in that they too have many different sides: strong, delicate, deadly, beautiful.
I found a small clearing amongst the trees, and placed the camera upside down whilst it was recording like this:
I then walked away and left it to record the trees swaying above.
I later removed the existing sound of the wind, as I found it too stressful and intense. I decided to replace it with birdsong that I recorded within the forest and surrounding areas using a recording device. I removed the background noise, to enhance the calming effect or silence interspersed with soft birdsong. I wanted to create a relaxing moment, that I envision will be in place in a busy gallery environment. As nature is my peaceful escape, I wanted to convey this through my video to the audience
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