Holly Harris ’22
Major(s): Earth and Oceanographic Science, Minor: Visual Arts
Installation piece, 6ft x 3ft (click image to enlarge)
The natural world offers a myriad of multiples: a grove of trees, an open field of grass, ripples on the water, a sky full of clouds, etc. But we are also accustomed to seeing the countless ways in which we overlay our own multiples onto the landscape: cities full of skyscrapers, suburban sprawls, agricultural fields, parking lots, etc. We have created patterns of our own and superimposed them onto the landscape. One of the most crucial multiples is our energy system. We are able to sustain society because of our reliance on our extractive industries. We fill our plains and our oceans with devices that enable raw material to be taken from the earth and utilized for our benefit. It is one thing for humans to overtake the landscape with infrastructure, it is another to overtake the landscape with devices that extract from the land itself. Sometimes multiples are overwhelming to the viewer. Other times, they are visually empowering. What dictates this reaction? In this piece, I wanted to instill this sense of questioning within the viewer as they consider the energy industry. Much of the conflict surrounding the transition to cleaner forms of energy, after all, comes back to the human reaction to multiples. Whereas some individuals see the landscape filled with fracking devices as pride-inducing, others see it as overwhelmingly destructive. Whereas some individuals looking out on a landscape filled with wind mills and see obstruction, others feel uplifted by the prospect of natural sources such as wind powering a cleaner planet. I hope that through the observation of this intentionally juxtaposing piece, composed of linocut prints on dyed fabric, each of you can take time to stop and consider your own reaction to these multiples, the feelings they instill and the implications of these reactions.