Earth Scars / Altered Landscapes

Always fascinated by the human relationship with landscape, this series represents the culmination of many of the themes I have been exploring over twenty years of art practice.  In 2012, I began a new series that I have since called Earth Scars.  Aware of the unprecedented demand for limestone aggregate in Ontario, I began researching the largest holes in the earth.  My research was first focused on The Big Hole, a diamond mine in Kimberley, South Africa.  Mining ceased in 1914, though it is still believed to be the largest hole in the earth that was entirely excavated by hand.  I have since gone on to research the mines of Russia, South America and Canada.  I see the paintings in this series as portraits of a landscape transformed by humans and as reflecting pools for a discourse on the sustainability of resource extraction, asking the viewer to ponder which are the vital resources and at what cost are they extracted.