Everything is Connected #2
Six (6) 8" x 10” contact printed large format photographs on fibre paper (framed) each 36 x 21 cm, 2023. Film capture in the Northern Flinders Ranges with Intrepid view camera, 300mm Fujinon f5.6 large format lens, and Ilford 8" x 10" FP4 plus black and white film. The negatives were processed using a Stearman Press SP - 8 x 10 Daytime Processing Tray, with Ilford Ilfotec LC 29 Developer.
Contact printed with additional text; these images connect messaging about issues for urgent discussion. Whilst controversial to some, climate crisis begs reason to champion rights for nature, subverting hitherto now humanist practices. Humankind are part of nature. If nature survives, we survive. EARTH matters. Ross's works seek to draw attention to social and environmental concerns facing the global community. These are climate justice issues (for human and non-humans alike).
- Everything is Connected.
Natural systems are all connected. Human activities including discard of waste, water runoff, emissions etc are not contained. Borders and boundaries have no job to do. The actions we take have ramifications that are far reaching. Individual Nation-state laws do not extend beyond state boundaries. Global legal thinking is now required to meet universal needs. Not only for sovereign lands, but also for the worlds commons (space, the atmosphere, the oceans and Antarctica).
- Understand my need for standing.
Referencing concepts of legal personhood (referred to as 'standing' or locus standi), the imposition of text superimposed on a tree image recalls the 1972 Book by Christopher Stone that questioned 'Should Trees have Standing?'. A number of countries now concur, with increasing numbers recognising that the natural world does need rights of action (though representation) for protection.
- Re-wild 30%. Regenerate.
At the time of making, debate around re-wilding and re-generation of both land based and ocean based ecologies was extant. The discussions culminated in the December 2022 Council of the Parties (COP) Convention on Biological Diversity held in Montreal (China was to have hosted, but ongoing Covid-19 implications precluded the possibility). Australia, together with nearly 200 other nations have agreed to a 30 by 30 initiative (that is 30% of land and ocean by 2030), High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People.
30% has been identified by some ecologists and scientists as a minimum percentage requirement for sustainable regeneration and ongoing sustainable existence and reduction of biodiversity loss.
- Dam it No! Watershed moment. Work with Nature.
- Re-map. Ditch the dams. Enable healthy connected floodplains.
- Honour flow: From source to sea. Fresh water.
These three (3) works are linked in their themes, each advocating for removal of dams, which if done, will minimize habitat fragmentation, and re-establish the natural flow of waterways. In turn, the natural conditions may be restored. This would require careful consideration and planning in respect of flood-planes where post-dam development occurred.
There is also discussion afoot suggesting that additional natural systems (such as rivers) join the existing four (4) global commons as areas beyond the jurisdiction of any individual sovereign nation-state. The existing commons are space, the oceans, the atmosphere and Antarctica.