HOMOEOSTASIS
noun (plural homoeostases | ˌhɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsiːz, ˌhəʊmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsiːz | )
the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.
The first plants emerged in the middle of the Ordovician, about 470 million years ago and have persisted to become one of the most prolific groups of lifeforms on the planet. The arrival of Homo Sapiens is dated to about 200,000 years ago.
Humanity has always struggled with making sense of the natural world. The simplicity of the human mind is incapable of comprehending the sophisticated rules that govern even the most fundamental processes of nature. Great efforts have been made since the earliest time of man’s emergence on earth to understand and make peace with nature but to little success. But the agenda of man, as of that of plants are totalitarian, and seemingly without compromise. Man’s alternative has been to simplify nature by means of quantisation of its parts in the bid to be able to negotiate with it.
These photographs are a documentation of the precipice of this conflict between two unrelenting forces – the human need to simplify and nature’s perpetual trajectory toward homeostasis. The work serves as a tool for personal reflection of our values, ideas of progress and the loss of habitat, in a city where the philosophies of economics and profit are not counterbalanced with long-term sustainability.
