Salmon (The Great Derangement)

Collage on wood, 2024

I created this piece as a response to how I place myself as an artist within the climate crisis. This work is inspired by and uses text from Amitav Ghosh’s book, The Great Derangement, which explores themes of climate change and how we have shaped the world around us. The Chinook salmon pictured is extremely important to several indigenous cultures and is heavily prized across the world. However, it is also drastically impacted by rising sea levels and other climate events due to climate change. I aimed to explore how we have diminished the importance of caring for our home and the consequences of ignoring the cries of Nature and the creatures we have imperiled. 
The top layer of the fish contains text explaining drastic climate events that have plagued certain areas of the world, as well as future predictions for an increase in dangerous climate disasters and their implications for our future as humans.
The second layer contains red imagery meant to evoke the feeling of the inner flesh of the fish.
The third layer of the fish contains text explaining how we as humans have pushed away the idea that all things and creatures in nature, from the smallest pebble to the largest elephant, have feelings and emotions, and ultimately, agency. I chose these passages to highlight how our initial self-deification and willful ignorance of the agency of nature has allowed us to justify the pillaging and destruction of the earth in favor of capitalism and self-gain.
The fourth layer is comprised of orange imagery, again allowing for the viewer’s eye to rest. The fifth and final layer of this piece is simply an illustration of trees, a wonderful symbol of the heart of the earth, which is the heart of what this piece is all about - our need to cast aside our ignorance and understand the voice of the earth that cries out to us as it is being destroyed.