Artwork: Rebecca Clark, Albatross, graphite, colored pencil, and pastel on paper, 2013
We have entered the Anthropocene Age, the era when human activities have begun to have a significant impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems. Soviet scientist began using the terms as they recognized the shift in the 1960s; the Holocene era had been completed, as human civilizations had completed their expansion across the globe, nestling into every corner, and in doing so, exterminating native populations, flora, and fauna. With the expansion of humanity came the inevitable shift, one that has just occurred and more than accounts for a vast cultural longing for a return to “the good old days,” or the blind denial of the significant and irreversible advent of climate change.
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Although the international commissions and unions have not officially approved this term as a recognized subdivision of geological time, there is mounting evidence that we have incontrovertibly entered a new age, many have become increasingly sensitive to the dawn of a new day. In addition to scientist, a number of artists have been at the vanguard of this conversation. King of the Forest: Adventures in Bioperversity, currently on view at the Arlington Arts Center, VA, is a powerful exploration of humanity’s changing relationship with other species.
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Curated by Megan Rook-Koepsel, King of the Forest features the work of thirteen contemporary American artists from the mid-Atlantic region, including Joan Danziger, Rebecca Clark, and Leslie Shellow. As Roek Koepsel observes, “We don’t understand the power of the natural world to adapt around us an in spite of us.”
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