No Planet B
Assemblage on turntable
Burned-out candle of philosopher .... the sages who spoke the truth, but nobody listened
Our earth, melting on a candlestick
Hourglass on clock face
Souvenir bottle of Maui crude oil, made important by the ornate Chinese frame
And underneath, the students whose future we've compromised.
There's no Plan B, because there's no Planet B
Dale Copeland 2021
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The small model of our darling planet is impaled on a candlestick (made from kitchenware) with wax dripping from under it. I'd been given the wax candle in the shape of an ancient sage. His head had burned away so I replaced it with a candle stump. I'd had three souvenir bottles of Maui crude oil for ages, used one in an assemblage about the damage done by fracking, and this one puts oil on a pedestal, so important to our easy life and our economy. And for far too long we've valued those over the planet that sustains it all. The choice of a Chinese frame around the oil is not accidental. And the hourglass. I had a lovely big brass hourglass, and I wanted people to be able to turn it over, set it going. It looked good, but it didn't survive. Fixed to the base by a small chain, loose enough so you could turn the hourglass over. But that meant it was loose enough to ... you guessed it ... slide off and smash the glass part. I was sad, it was a lovely thing. But I think the assemblage has improved. The replacement hourglass is smaller - we've got less time - and you can't reset it. There's no going back. It's fixed on top of a clock face. And underneath, in perspex cylinders, are photos of protesting students, and their admirable leader Greta Thurnberg. We can, and should, apologise to the young. I wish we could do more. |
Surf Highway, Coastal Taranaki, New Zealand
More of her artwork, and the books she makes, can be found on her site at dalecopeland.co.nz.
email Dale at dale@tart.co.nz