1st Place winner
Octopus's garden
DESCRIPTION
I started this series based on my sorrow about the almost inevitable loss of the coral reefs. The notion of not being able to protect this amazingly rich underwater jungle with its abundant variety of different species nor to share that wonder of life with future generations breaks my heart. Losing this beauty hurts deeply. Playing around with some flowers in an underwater setting, I realized how they turned into stunning creature-like beings. I started dreaming a new future where the reefs are still there, but in a supported and transformed way. Imagining that plants return back to water, that they evolve in this new environment and create and contribute to a new form of underwater life.
That’s how I turned my grief into this ongoing art project.
I am still full of awe about this unfamiliar yet impressive beauty.
I see tentacles outstretched, tongues and jaws, semi-transparent fins, gatherings and clusters, cooperation, air supply storage in bubbles and so on.
The title „octopuses’s garden“ refers to the Beatles: Childhood memories of this song came up looking at my underwater geranium perennial which reminded me of tentacles.
With every motif I discover a story: This plant reminds me of that moment within the „never-ending story“, where Bastian saves „Phantasien“ and creates a whole new world, and everything starts to grow from scratch. And I thought about humanity acting like the „nothingness“ in this book.
I am strongly empowered by my deep wish to protect the underwater world which is still a mystery to us aswell as to preserve biodiversity all over the world. Feeling so delighted I have found a way to add a little bit to this objective through my art.
AUTHOR
I am a photo-based artist from Germany.Inspired by the abundance of world’s rainforests and coral reefs, I aim to shine a light on the wonder of life, contemplating our relation to the world and hoping to foster a sense of humility and awe; aesthetic arrest. “I want to evoke a deep connection with nature and have a wish to protect and preserve it for future generations.“
Art is my way of detangling my thoughts, like Joseph Campbell once wrote. It is my living laboratory where I test all my ideas in a physical way.
I paint mostly with light.
I create photo based artworks in a wide range. From lens-based work to photograms, from digitally collaging to manufacturing cyanotypes.
I look for the exceptional in the ordinary and I try to make my subjective view of reality visible. I love to discover new techniques, to indulge in new ideas and to challenge myself with playful experiments.
I totally agree with Glenn Gloud:
"The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder."
I want to share joy and inspiration trying to create moments of nowness and oneness. Aestetic arrest.
And I believe deeply in the transformative power of art that touches the innermost of the beholder and reminds us of the infinity within us. I want to nourish that spiritual place inside the heart, evoking that deep connection with nature and the wish to protect and preserve it for future generations. I resonate deeply with Rachel Carson’s statement: Wonder and humility do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.
Born in 1974, I studied design had a career as an art director on a global scale for a number of years. Currently I reside with my husband and our 2 boys south of
