Dismantled Worlds is a series of sculptures that steps back to reveal a larger framework of cumulative cycles of growth and ruin on our planet. 

 

At first glance, these works appear to be colourful stalagmites rising from the gallery floor on low wooden bases. As the viewer nears them, they will see that they are, in fact, amalgamations of hundreds of miniature carved and painted wood and clay elements. These detailed elements include various terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna—from past to present—heaped into monolithic piles. The vast collection of bodies creates an overwhelming feeling of excess as they come into focus, speaking to unfolding time, lives lived and epochal cycles of construction and destruction upon the planet. 

 

Dismantled Worlds aims to shift the viewer’s perspective of the world outside the context of their lives to highlight a global environment fluctuating through time, between catastrophe and regeneration. By physically heaping various species and remains, an overwhelming disjuncture of time and place is created in the work. The viewer may be left attempting to evaluate their own consumption habits when faced with these massive accumulations. This sense of displacement will invite speculation, generating new understandings of our planetary predicament.