Artist Statement

For my piece I decided to create a diorama of nature vs. city. My idea was to depict the damage being done to nature from a city's pollution. I want the viewer to feel the destruction that pollution causes without making a cliche cut down forest for my piece. I decided that the way I could do this is by having the foreground nature be in full bright color and then lowering the saturation until the background, the city, is black and white photography. I want the feeling of the piece to be drained, as if the city is sucking the life out of nature.
I want the viewer to be able to look through my piece and around it showing all aspects of my images, and giving them different points of view. I want them to feel sorrow and even guilt for not being more conscientious about the environment and make them realize that damage is being done. I chose to do this project using photography because everyone believes that photos tell the truth, they are evidence. Photography is a way to speak your mind without using words. A good photograph stimulates a persons senses, it can shape emotions and create new feelings.
My piece is an installation that will hang both from the ceiling and the wall, leaving the viewer space to travel between the pieces to get various views. The nature scene is going to be hung from the ceiling by a wire rack and a metal pole will hang each picture. The city is glued onto wood and then protrudes in different layers on the ends of dowel rods giving the piece dimension. I chose to hang them this way to show the city's impacting nature and the fact that you can't see nature's impact on the city. I chose to hang my piece this way because I have never done and installation piece and I want the viewers to be able to see all aspects of my images in a different light instead of how they normally view photographs.