2024

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL EXHIBITION

MAEVE GROGAN

MAEVE GROGAN

(Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Self Portrait – Forest Fire Edition

wax (beeswax carnauba), charcoal from an Oregon forest fire, walnut ink, graphite, paper, soil,  20 x 10 x 17 inches

Price: $3600 + $85 shipping fee

alternate views (l-r):  back, detail

Artist Statement:

This sculpture speaks to the overwhelm I feel at times, and, the possibility that our light, that our being, can hold both the outer shell of overwhelm, but needs something else, something lighter and more connected, for problem solving.

I’m not actually worried about the planet. My favorite wildflower hike went through a large burn scar. I saw the new grasses and tree seeds that needed fire to germinate, the fire was a catalyst for new life.

The planet will shape shift to accommodate the global warming, courtesy of our species. What worries me is our species might not make this rapid environmental change.

We are focused on tech and defensive advancement, and seem to have missed the basics of human happiness. Our species uses digital tools to communicate and create, but seems lost, like narcissus, staring at our own reflection, creations, comparing ourselves to each other, citing one god versus another, and defending our borders like neighboring feudal kingdoms hundreds of years ago, new tech, same arguments. I keep reaching for a different way to solve for this instead of more reflexive survival strategies.

My overwhelm cycles through the flight, fight, freeze, faint, and fawn nervousness that disaster trauma gifts us, my body is working hard for my survival. Unfortunately, any trauma slows the executive part of the brain that problem solves, and keeps us ready to run, to challenge, to faint if need be, and avoid a threat, essentially it’s a survival strategy loop, and it’s exhausting. And it’s part of our human animal make up… it’s baked in.

By sculpting my overwhelm, I felt trauma as a reality, and felt something else emerge as I sculpted. I felt compassion for myself, a warmth in my heart that also extended to any being who was also suffering, just trying to survive. Survival is a complicated mess. I felt an acceptance of my complicated reality. I also know I’m useless to help if I’m caught in my own disaster trauma loop. The felt compassion was a nice break in the survival loop. Maybe enough of a break to start problem solving based on community, rather than just individual survival.

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