This series represents the human-to-nature connection that contemporary society continuously obscures us from and captures my feelings when I am deeply grounded in nature. With technology taking over our everyday lives, “grind” culture, and consumerism to name a few, humans forget that at our core we are mammals existing as an extension of the natural world. When I am deeply grounded in nature I find peace in the overwhelming sense of connection between me and my surroundings. I am grounded by the synchronicities of the patterns that exist in nature and within myself; the rings of a tree stump and fingerprints, the craters of the moon and my birthmarks, etc. I collage my digital photography of models and nature, as well as some stock images, using Lightroom and Photoshop. I create layers of multiple images to blend the colors and contents together to form a comforting yet surreal world within a single image. This merging of multiple subjects creates a metaphoric mutualistic relationship between the models and their surroundings, symbolizing the relationship society has left behind with industrialization, pollution, and deforestation. My subjects are nude to emphasize human beings’ most natural form. This intentional choice connects my subjects to art history, as their forms resemble Greek and Roman sculpture. Tattoos and dyed hair are celebrated in this series to emphasize the modernity of the human-to-nature connection that is often seen as historical. I showcase neutral colors and different hues of green to connect my art with colors most commonly found in nature. As human beings, we are inevitably a part of nature. I want this series to evoke a feeling of oneness between the viewer and our greatest, yet most forgotten friend, Mother Nature.
