AnnaBoedecker ARTIST STATEMENT

These small works began on Earth Day, as a meditation on the fleeting beauty of nature. Each one reflects a vanishing wilderness, a place being overrun by civilization and/or destroyed by climate change. Called critical habitats, these are geographic areas essential for the conservation of endangered species.

These “Earth Echoes” were inspired by Emma Freeman and art-making as a practice of Zen peacemaking. One of the tenets of Zen Peacemaking is notknowing – letting go of fixed ideas about oneself and the world. In art this means letting go of a fixed idea of the outcome or even direction of the creative process. Bearing Witness, another tenet, is being present to the joys and suffering of the world. Through witnessing and giving expression to the beauty and fragility of our natural world we can evoke the love that is necessary to save it.