Martyr with explanation series, 2018-2019

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My Martyr with explanation series develops some of the themes I started reflecting upon with the Martyr series in 2016: the relationship between man and nature and man’s desire to dominate nature through science.

I chose octopuses to symbolize the mysterious, inexplicable magic of nature. Octopuses are fascinating animals: in Hawaiian mythology, they are the only survivors of a previous, alien universe. Indeed, their genome is unusually large, unlike that of other invertebrates – so much so that that it’s being called “alien” by the scientists who worked on it. They are highly intelligent, possibly more so than any other invertebrate. Yet, young octopuses learn almost nothing from their parents, who often die of reproduction: males can live for only a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch.

In contrast to this magic, inexplicable animal, the man-made scribbles and other signs on the paper refer to scientific attempts to catalogue, study and understand nature – a futile attempt at domination.

Some of the artworks in this series are available on Saatchi Art.