“Lady Earth and Mankind”

2016 - 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 4 ft. X 3 ft.

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This painting is a snapshot of life on Earth right now and how our actions are not only impacting our planet, but every living being in the world.

Inside the painting are hidden graphs, such as the tree/fire line that shows the average global temperature rising since 1880, the ice line starting at the pine tree and moving to the right that indicates the Arctic sea ice melting over the last 40 years, and the road the cars are driving up under that represents the carbon dioxide concentration rising over the last 80 years. Across various intervals of time, the relationship between mankind’s actions and our changing environment remains clear. *Graph sources: NASA, NSIDC, and USCD

There are also many causes and effects throughout the piece. For example, deforestation, shown near the middle of the painting, is primarily caused by the production of palm oil, animal agriculture, mineral extraction, and construction. One major effect depicted are the animals that have now become endangered due to the destruction of their homes and food/water sources in these forests.

Another example of a cause-and-effect relationship in this painting is shown in the top-left of the painting where trapped emissions cause the sun’s heat and radiance to warm the planet and also darken the snow and ice, which makes the ice melt faster. As ice decreases in quantity and size, animals that depend on swimming to new icebergs to hunt and sleep like polar bears end up swimming much longer distances in an effort to survive. This is 1 of more than 40 unique animals illustrated in this piece within the context of how it’s being impacted right now in the Anthropocene, which is the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

When you look closely at this painting, you can find many more disasters being caused by human actions as well as the beginning of our effort to mitigate our negative impact on the planet. What do you see when you look at this artwork?

This painting is now available as canvas prints in my shop here.