April 17 - May 17, 2015

 

In Holocene Garden, Lea Anderson has created an installation that engages us with both our hope and our despair.  A single, artificial light source serves as the energy that feeds a plethora of imagined "plants".  Each plant-like form is built using printed images of embryos (representing multiple species). As the 'embryo flowers' climb closer to the light, they thrive, growing with saturated color.  But the light is limited.  In this garden,because  growth is dependent on limited energy sources, the forms have no choice but to feed upon themselves. Those that cannot be close to the light slowly die, blacken, and fall away.  

 

The “Holocene” epoch (also frequently referred to as the "Anthropocene") is the name given to the last 11,700 years of the Earth's geologic history. Holocene describes all of humanity's recorded history as well as the rise and fall of all civilizations. While living beings naturally influence their environments to some degree, none have changed the planet as much as the human species. Habitat destruction, pollution, and other factors are inducing an ongoing mass extinction of plant and animal species. Some projections estimate that 20% of all plant and animal species on Earth will be extinct within the next three decades.

 

Yet the Holocene has also witnessed an incredible evolution of human knowledge and technology. This ‘data-mass’ can also feed/fertilize solutions that could slow or even halt destruction, and instead nurture the Earth. The artist cultivates an installation scenario which confronts us with both a beautiful possibility and a tragic inevitability.