Living in spite of where we are

As I went about my shooting I found myself drawn to the way an artificial context, a city or a plant pot, shapes the way that we live. As photography is a medium that uses the present moment as its canvas, I got excited about the theme of how the past and future coexist presently.

Existing in a highly artificial context estranges human life from the present moment — caught up in the grind — by the need to survive financially. Most of the time, this mode of survival means occupying an internal, psychological space that is closed. There is an unspoken social pressure that releasing oneself from this doing is irresponsible, and so there is fear about embracing what is now. Meanwhile, life goes on.

As a counterpoint, plant life forms have always struck me as being able to ‘live’ better, even if only from a crack in the concrete or a glass of water. Their energy is relatively more potent than inward facing humans. Yet we tend to anthropomorphise them, we say “that plant doesn’t look happy”, and make other cursory projections, which say more about us than them. I feel we should notice ourselves doing this in order to learn something fundamental about how to live. Plants always seem to find their way of flourishing, unburdened by what has been or what could be, and so are open to the present.

I’m excited by the capability of art to invite viewers to forge connections between human and non-human life. By assembling this series of photographs, I’m trying to communicate something directly about this relationship, playing human and plant life off against each other, alluding to a powerful lesson that they hold in their way of being.