We Are The Environment
‘We Are The Environment’ is an ongoing series of drawings by abstract artist and declarer Caroline Wright that responds to the frustrations and disconnect in our relation to the environment. Here, Caroline shares the process and context behind the series.
I am a painter and collage maker in my mid-60s and have spent most of my artistic life as an abstract artist making paintings, collages and prints, as well as annual landscape drawings. My first 16 years were on a dairy farm in Devon. I moved to South London to study fine art and stayed there from 1976, until moving to Herne Bay on the Kent coast in 2022. I have always been deeply interested in nature, wherever it can be found, from the most unlikely places, such as London pavements, to allotments and fields.
I started my ongoing series of drawings, entitled ‘We are the Environment’ before moving to Kent. It was in response to my growing frustration at our increasing separation /disconnection to nature, as evidenced by the changes I see, the books and articles I read.
The series of ink drawings with collaged words or phrases, reflect my concerns and observations; a set of ‘notes’ of love and warning, a celebration of nature and calls of distress. The individual drawings are exhibited in a random manner, in a small, or large group and can be read as a form of poetry. I want to prompt ideas and recognition in others, by way of visual interest. The series has been exhibited twice so far in 2023 /24.
I am already starting work on another series ‘Consider a Tree’, literally an offshoot of the first series and foresee continuing both these projects, with more ‘offshoots’, over the next two years, exhibiting and sharing online via social media. I hope the work will be seen as a call to action by reminding what we have and what we all stand to lose.
Caroline Wright is an abstract painter and collage artist based in Herne Bay, Kent. Follow her ongoing work on Instagram @carolinewright1145!