Terra Recognita, 2019

A self directed concept & collection.

Terra Recognita, translated as ‘land known again’, is a reincarnation of Earth and its denizens existing years from now, after the wilting of our first natural world. It is a collection of illustrated moments and documents that seek an understanding of the changes in behaviour, technology, and consciousness that could reintroduce symbiosis between humankind and the planet.

In the contemporary age, as our species tames the old beasts of famine, disease, and war, its concern for the biosphere is a fragile contender. The natural world becomes ash in the fires of progress when our species remains preoccupied with its ephemerality at the expense of ecological preservation. When collective conscience cultivates a narrow focus, it repeatedly reaches an ethical crux that favours our species over the biosphere. This onus is a precursor to the Anthropocene: an epoch characterized by human alterations to the planet including accelerated climate change and Earth's sixth mass extinction. As we exist in the midst of this gradual environmental loss, we are given time to transcend this ethos to encompass the planet, or collect the fragments to one day start anew.