unnatural selection series

Aliferous- to have wings, be winged.

Mixed media wall hanging. Part of the Unnatural Selection series.

Stoneware, paper clay, jute, wax, wire, millinery

Unnatural Selection: Pods

This series is influenced by my fascination with complex systems, both evolved and designed. My work explores the variety of relationships between form and function, and challenges well-known associations between familiar objects by using them to create new forms and new functions. The work also examines the matrix of connections between intention and adaptation. Some of the permutations and chimeras I create echo known biological and manmade systems, yet produce entirely novel systems that invite careful study. These new pods of botanical and human made information are species and beings of unique form and surreal function.

Pods are vehicles of plant life and birth, man-made containers to keep things warm and safe, vehicles of escape to a possible future. Pods are everywhere. Inspired by the multiple connotations of the word ‘pod’, these surviving worlds, independent beings, or botanical species act as escape pods, offering refuge from the world, and also seed pods, storing information for new life and ideas. Like a living cell, an organism, or a tiny garden, each pod I create is an individual unit of function, a hybrid plant specimen, a previously unknown being. The permutations of this mythical botany create entirely novel species with features from non-plant origins. These pods suggest a new mode of survival evolved in the wild. This mode of survival becoming necessary due to humanity’s relationship with nature and changing in response to the environmental impact we as humans are having on the world.