Utopia vs. Dystopia
The contrasting environments of earth and the impact they have on one another.
Area of focus is Marine Biodiversity and pollution.
Created by : Matthew Hardy-Brown
There are many different factors that lead to the pollution of global oceans. The major ones are as follows: Oil spills, atmospheric pollution, deep sea mining and runoff. Each of these have respectively resulted in reduced marine flora and fauna as well as negatively impacted the native biodiversity.
Pollution, defined by the National Geographic, is “the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.” (NatGeo,2016). For my final piece I feel it is imperative to illustrate elements of pollutants and the stark contrast of what the natural environments used to be.
I feel the best way to do this will be to capture a 50/50 landscape ocean photograph and blend it as the great divide between what lives below and how the above creatures have harmed their environment to the point of no return.
My primary intentions for this piece are to construct a simulated environment that shares both the natural elements of earth and the damage mankind has caused over the years. I want to show a clear divide between the two landscapes, allowing for the viewer to be immersed into the water, while still experiencing the , to see what “could be”, rather than what has been done for the past years of mankind not using renewable energy sources. This will be evident through using polluted clouds and dark skies in stark contrast to healthy seas and a diverse set of marine flora and fauna.
I wanted to place the viewer of the piece in the centre of the picture able to experience both environments at a glance, without having to adjust the view. I want the audience to be put into a first-person point of view of a swimmer/snorkeler in the water with the man-made environment closing in on them, symbolising how if we continue ruining the environment there will be nothing left to save.
Other influences to my final design would be that of a simulated nature. Two influential media forms such as “The Truman Show” and “The Lorax”, carried weight on my final piece as they both shared a story from a narrator’s point of view. They are also cantered around man made constructions and a protagonist who wants to experience the world and all its realities, while ensuring a beneficial co-existence between man and nature.