FLORA OF THE ANTHROPOCENE

The idea for this project originated from the work of the Natural History Museum which presented at the University of Oregon during my first year. The lecture discussed the institutions we trust to disseminate information to the public and the corporate colonization that has compromised them. The idea of remaking the museum and making statements within them gave rise to the concept of “Flora of the Anthropocene” my attempt at a post-apocalyptic diorama that asks what it is the legacy of this epoch will be.

While the ideas and questions that drove this project originated during my freshman year, the project only came to fruition after I returned from conducting research in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador. Much of the trash that composes the flora within the terrarium I gathered from within Yasuni National Park, an area that many consider to be the most biodiverse point on the planet and sits atop the most oil-rich land in Ecuador. What was once an untouched rainforest is now being converged upon by oil interests and development. The trash now serves as a harbinger for what could soon replace the pristine ecosystems we continue to compromise and destroy.