Human Nature
Visionary PhotoArt by Tony Pinfold
Human Nature
The nature of life, death and rebirth are echoed across the cosmos and deep into the very fibre that is mankind. Many people hold an idealized concept of nature and a deeply condemning view of human nature but I believe both are exactly the same, neither are good or bad they just are. Death and destruction are not simply the domain of man. Earth and universal nature over the eons have trumped the genocidal acts of any of history's dictators time and time again. Likewise man and nature have both shown sides that can be seen as aspects of peace and love. Whether it be a seedling breaking through the soil or a woman giving birth daily life begins again. The 'struggle' that is life is everywhere. Trees and plants vie for limited nutrition and water, Animals eat or are eaten and yet many people view nature through a distorted Walt Disney lens. I love to walk in Nature. I crave open space and peace but I'm not rapped in some fools paradise. The world is at war daily on every level possible from the bacteria in petri dishes to the battle fields of the middle east. Nature all nature is not some stationary perfection it is ever evolving lava flow of discontent. Even the supposed emptiness of space is a caldron of creation and destruction as what is a galactic blink of an eye, stars are born live and die. Whether you embrace this view of life or not you're in it. Our evolutionary status is impressive when compared to alga in a pond but it is no less subject to the planetary conditions of the moment.
So is this image I have created negative, a mirror of the woes of existence? No the image simply represents the circle of life - the fire of creation, the spring, summer, autumn and winter of a life, a season even a thought. The woman's face stands for the beauty that is this circle of life. The constant reminder that everything will change but when it does it's nothing personal its just life being. I guess many will see this work as little comfort but it's how you view your place in the mix. If you value your personal identity and believe yourself important then yes the message behind this work holds little comfort. But if you see yourself as simply a fleeting moment of perfection in the dance of life soon to dive back into the cosmic ocean and be reshaped, then I for one see a beauty in that. We dwell within never ending palette of potential which will never be broken by the simple death of a form. Human and Nature are One.