by Dr. Christy Rodriguez de Conte
In LeMoyne Art’s most recent show, “Eden Altered,” on display through May 13, artist Linda Hall reflects on the legacy left by humans that have created chaos on our beautiful earth.
As a native Floridian, my relationship with climate change is very personal. Thus, I share how I spent my latest rainstorm in Florida. The rain was Forrest Gump style, “little bitty rain, stinging rain, big ol’ fat rain,” and the rain just seemed to keep rising.
It rose right up to our doorstep and into the hallway. After moving furniture and using a vacuum to suck up the water, we eventually found humor in the sadness and took the party outside to float down the river that had begun to flow in our street.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the harsh realities of the effects of climate change in Florida are threefold: the state has warmed more than one degree during the last century, our seas are rising approximately one inch per decade, and our rainstorms are becoming more severe and frequent. This directly affects our swamps, wildlife, and experience of existence.
Though we may feel helpless, those in our community aim to bring us face-to-face with our destruction in ways that amuse and inspire. Linda Hall’s newest exhibition, “Eden Altered,” incorporates sculptures of the ivory-billed woodpecker, debatably extinct.
Another piece features a woman’s top half with threads hanging, as if thinking or crying about the extinction of the passenger pigeon she cradles in her hand. For Hall, these pieces summarize the beauty and sadness found in the natural world and her artistry.
“The idea is really thinking about the sadness of the wildlife and the natural spaces that we are losing,” Hall reflects. “Teaching at FSU, which I do occasionally as an adjunct. (Students) In their short 22-year lives, they have seen their South Florida homes and locations altered. The trees across the street are no longer there. It’s happening so quickly, and we are losing so much. So, the idea of Eden to me is a land that is no longer.”
Read more on the Tallahassee Democrat.
English
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
