Post 5: Runway and Focus on Climate Change

For STAB Runway this year, the chosen theme of MACRO/micro challenged us to make a small object large, or take a large object and make it small. For my piece, I was interested in exploring the relationship between human cells and plant cells. What started as an interest in the visual difference between the two cells quickly evolved into a more symbolic narrative about the relationship between human beings and nature over time. The idea of creating cells out of different materials– natural versus manmade materials– evolved to include windows with pictorial representations of this relationship. Eventually, these windows became paper cut out silhouettes that depicted five scenes: deforestation/fire, poaching, oil drilling, rising sea levels, and a plant shoot growing out of a human skull. I wanted to tell a story that was both dire and hopeful. The natural world will rejuvenate and endure, but perhaps human beings won’t be here to see it.