I am excited to be showing with

The London Group in their 2025 Open.

Simon Head will present a project named:

‘Extinct in the Wild (R.I.P.), 2025’

He will give an artists talk: Sunday 9th or Sunday 23rd November.

Extinct in the Wild (R.I.P.), 2025.

introduces a list of nine extinct plants:

Astragalus nitidiflorus, Centaurea tuntasia, Euphrasia mendoncae,

Fissidens microstictus, Geocaryum bornmuelleri, Geocaryum divaricatum,

Nobregaea latinervis, Ornithogalum visianicum, Viola cryana.

These Latin names inform a sculpture made as nine small concrete gravestones, each measures 39 x 10 x 5 cm. they are constructed from: lead, archival greyboard, digital print, and concrete.

Extinct in the Wild (R.I.P.), 2025, juxtaposes vulnerability, loss, and grief in the natural world, the extinction of assessed species of plants, and the threats to both the habitat and ecology of biodiverse systems.

'R.I.P.' pays tribute to the eco-problem; and draws attention to a general failure of philosophy to recognise equal status of humans and plants.

'R.I.P.' states the Latin names of nine extinct species of plants; expressing the need to respect in quiet reverence a memorial which any human might expect after death.

The Materials

Lead, archival greyboard, digital Giclee print, concrete; the mining, harvesting, and energy usage, required to produce these materials and technology, should remind us of the damage done; the poisoning and physical disruption of the planet, animal life forms, and plantae.

Material's used in the making of art can sometimes be harmful to the natural environment and nature as a whole.

I realise that materials used in making this sculpture can be viewed as problematic; even though it does draw attention to the problem itself; future 'Extinct in the Wild' works will attempt to alleviate this issue.

Concept

Despite the rigours of research I feel the work outcome remains one of abstraction; where abstraction is not opposed to content, but actually embodies it.

Lead plant labels embossed with Latin plant names also index other relevant information; the lead offers an aptly weighted materiality for the subject.

The lead plant labels rest on a soft bed of archival greyboard; this offers a cushioning effect against the harsh concrete surface.

I mention here, the epitaph 'Sit tibi terra levis', ('May the earth weigh lightly upon you'), to deliberately set a mood; extending an emotional tribute to the nine extinct plant species researched and included in the work, to bestow a shroud like overtone.

Groundwork for this project has entailed gathering facts from online resources to assess threatened plant species; Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, or the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List of Threatened Species data.

The project focusses the visual and physical link between research and art; as understood through the words of Emanuele Coccia, Donna J Haraway, John Hejduk, Juan Meñoz, Giuseppe Penone, and Michael Sandle, among many others.

Key Research

Nature's ancient analogue data base

'The materiality of the world'.

Online data base

© IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List of Threatened Species: Camellia sinensis - published in 2018.

Artist : Giuseppe Penone

'Breath of Clay', the artist absorbed into nature.

The Imprint of Drawing, Catherine de Zegher, 2004.           

Artist: Juan Muñoz

Statement: "The more realistic sculptures are meant to be, the less interior life they have". 1975; also "We only have the materiality of the world to explain the world, the space between is one of meaning".

Artist: Michael Sandle

Title: Idea Towards Funeral Monument - Female Version, 1981.

I Ching, or book of changes

01.01.2025; the hexagram read 15. Ch'ien / Modesty;

above: K'un, The receptive, Earth; below: Kên, Keeping still, Mountain.