POSTCARD FROM A HOT PLANET

This piece is about climate change and is part of a slow, ongoing series where I explore the challenge of expressing ideas or emotions through purely formal elements–almost nonrepresentational, but not quite.

I stained the wood to resemble sewing pattern tissue pieces, wanting them to feel safe and familiar while also symbolizing a simplified cityscape, urban and industrial. The artificial pink and yellow color palette suggest a pretty but polluted sunset. I replaced pattern cutting directions with familiar lines from the Book of Common Prayer, and turned them backwards to slow the viewer down and express the idea of an entrenched belief below the surface. The tired and torn postage message expresses the desire for an answer. The latch is open and moveable, but where is the door?