Natural Capital
2024

As capitalist societies race towards a precipice teetering on environmental bankruptcy, my work, “Natural Capital '' delves into the critical over-drafting of our environmental resources. With echoes of ecofeminism, the work explores the wonderment of the natural world and the possibilities of technology, paired with the potential for destruction. 

Research feeds my environmental curiosity and led me to the robust food economy of California’s central coast and the flooding of farmlands that occurred from unusually heavy rains in 2023. Initially, I focused on repeatedly drawing finance ledgers to signify the redundancy with which the environment is left as a tertiary concern. My decision to work with the complementary colors of red and green was based on literal finance ledgers, but also references the environment, the color (and size)of money, and in business terms a company operating “in the red” is not sustainable. I thought about how society monetizes the natural world, in this case: water, land, aquifers and the like. Turning resources into currency without regard for long term consequences is poor financial planning as investments and resources must be monitored regularly and protected. 

As a counterpoint to the red economy based works, I chose to represent the regenerative abilities of nature in the  green land/water-scapes. Fundamental to my art inquiry is the notion of collapse and rebirth as seen in phenomena like the disappearance and resurgence of Lake Tulare. In the early 1900’s a technological feat of canals and ditches diverted and eventually depleted the lake. It has reemerged 4 times in the last hundred years, quietly overtaking the land. Hundreds of thousands of acreage in the Central Coast provides three quarters of our country’s fruit and nuts and one third of the vegetables. Societal well-being and financial prosperity are directly entangled with ecological health. The question that remains is how to balance a viable economy and the people it sustains while still preserving the long term health of the environment and the future people it will sustain.