ENDANGERED: Fine Art & Photography Contest 2021 Submission

As a small child, a favorite hideaway of mine was a large vernal pool hosting countless species of enduring fascination. The surrounding area was teaming with life - the perfect place for an inquisitive young child to drink deeply the endless curiosities of the natural world. One day, I went to visit my eden, and found it bulldozed to the ground. Trees leveled, wetland filled in with gravel, the entire area devoid of life. This heart-wrenching experience fostered in me a deep relationship with life, death, destruction of habitats, and extinction. As I grew, I learned that narratives just like this play out conglomerately each and every day. It is said that the artist's job is to record their time in history, and I am no exception, for the narratives in my work are that which I continuously play witness to. As an artist, my aim is to shed light upon our collective impact on the natural world, hopefully to inspire whatever it takes for our kind to enact change, before it's too late.