Response 2003/2023(2023)
Projection, installation size variable, to be set facing a projection of identical proportions of Call 1985/2022(2022).
(1+) Response 2003/2023(2023) is Bowie's response to the shock of her research that produced
Call 1985/2022(2022). Like Call 1985/2022, this work is constructed from historical screen grabs from Google Earth Pro. This foray into historical satelite imagery began in 2009 while searching for buildings on Google Earth that were implicated in resource extraction by multi-national corporations as well as those sites of extraction or manufacture. This initial work lead to
Shadowworks (2011-ongoing), a project where screengrabs are altered, titled and then uploaded amongst other (tourist) photos at the general site where the point of interest was located.
The two images comprising (1+) Response serve as a record of the 11 year terra-transformation by collaborating with other organisms (from 2011-2022) of her Orbitas(2022) project in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
The 'before', or left image has been corrected for the abberations of the original satelite image to conform to the actual boundaries of the area. The blurred right-hand corners of each image is outside of the boundaries of the area.
The in focus trees and greenery that expand over that boundary on the right side (satellite image grabbed in 2023) is flora burgeoned forth in and situated on Orbitas, but who's branches have extended over the properties boundary into the common lane.
While the first readable satelite shot used for (1+) Response was from 2003(left image), Bowie first set foot there in 2011: a decade after the area had been clear-cut.
Upon first visit to the site (see Plano Verde (2013 to present)) and unable to see what lay beyond a meter ahead of her steps, Bowie was overwhelmed pushing through 2 meter high invasive Thatching Grass (the place would later reveal a den of deadly Coral Snakes just 20 meters from where she walked).
Between the time that the land was clearcut and her aquisition, it had been inundated with several non-indigenous, invasive plant species, including the Giant Thatching Grass or Jaragua (Hyparrhenia rufa): a plant that completely carpets disturbed ground and obliterates native species, shunting biodiversiy.
Bowie aquired this plot, encouraged by an intact forest reserve 100 meters below the area and to the north. She resovled to rehabilitate this site by building soil, combating errosion and reintroducing local plants that would encourage bird, reptile and insect species, and their collaboration in rehabilitating this area. Over the period of 11 years, the artist hand pulled the towering grasses and worked alongside organisms and bird species to encourage the repopulation of local plant species and related flora and fauna. In addition to hand removal of invasive plant species, the ensuing years of labour (primarily conducted by the artist herself), focused on removing Listre stones not original to the site, discarded plastic, bottles and scrap metal. Gradually loosening the hard-packed ground, developing soil constructed from compost, leaves, fallen branches the area slowly became repopulated with diverse animal, insect, frog, reptile and bird populations that previously skirted Orbitas.
As the trees matured (growth is rapid in the tropics), Orbitas became a breeding ground for masked singing tree frogs, anoles, a nesting ground for many bird species; den sites for Guanacaste Grey foxes; and anteaters, pizottis, wild cats, howler monkeys and many reptiles. The amending and aesthetic transformation of the area continues into the future.
Fiona considers this work as a collaboration with creatures (who were key, through droppings containing seed) in germination and re-establishment of indigenous plantlife and the emergence of young trees that supported ever-increasing biodiversity.
Please also see related projects:
The Flats (2014) ongoing
Usted, de lejos y hasta muy cerca (2016)
Imaginary Landscape (2012)
all rights reserved/copyright fiona bowie 2023
All images, sound and text are the exclusive copyright of the artist and may not be used or duplicated without
the expressed permission of the artist
This work was created in Samara, Costa Rica, Sitges, Calalonia Spain, and in K'emk'emeláy (colonially known as Vancouver BC.),
with gratitude and acknowledgement of our host's nationhood; of their unceded, ancestral and current territories:
the Musqueam, Squamish, and Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
|
