Reflections.

The classic elements have been studied across cultures for thousands of years in an attempt to gain a better understanding of life: air, water, earth and fire, with some cultures acknowledging a fifth. Each element is intricately connected, tenderly balancing to perpetuate and self-sustain. The concept highlights a unity between all living things.

The human species is entirely dependent on the earth’s ecosystem flow; yet our demanding, post-industrial culture largely objectifies the natural world as separate from people. This worldview has fuelled modern consumerism, making environmentalism a special area of interest, instead of a larger biocultural issue.

Each element relates to some form of sustainability, both systematically and individually: consumerism, agriculture, nonrenewable energy, deforestation, urbanisation, population, and wealth are just a few key areas within the climate crisis discourse.

In the context of this project, you, the viewer, are the fifth element;

the element of change.