One of the greatest challenges for a contemporary artist in this time of environmental crisis is to open our minds and senses to a different way of perceiving and understanding the world we inhabit. Pursuing Reality: Possibilities, by Jo-Anne Green is just such a unique series of multilayered digital photo collages that take us on a non-linear temporal journey through the living eco system we are a part of and dependent on for our own survival as a species. Green is a visual composer whose symphonic orchestration of images allows us to experience the natural world from a non-anthropocentric perspective in deep time. Her imagery speaks to the mortality and fragility of all living things, while simultaneously expressing the extraordinary resilience and cyclical life force of the organic world and all its botanical and sentient beings. Mapping the neural transmitters beneath the material forms, each image aligns the micro and macro patterns across living systems. The result is a poetic meditation on the interconnectedness of matter, energy, consciousness, perception, and memory on a multi-sensory level.
As both a painter and photographer Green uses digital technology as both a tool and a source for creating her montages, and as a structural analogy of physical reality. Perhaps ironically as intoxicatingly beautiful as the images on the screen are, they pale in comparison to the depth and richness of them in print. The photographic print on the wall has presence as a physical object that exists in real time, space and scale in relation to your body. The materiality and weight of this magnificent book held in hand invites another level of contemplation as each turn of the page opens to another world. It is an intimate exchange that requires time and attention to explore and reconsider the urgency of preserving and embracing nature. Green speaks to this turning point in history with eloquence, passion and grace. Pursuing Reality: Possibilities, is a revelatory and profound body of work that renews itself with each new viewing. It is both exhilarating and humbling in the subtle ways it invites us to rethink our place as humans in relation to the non-human world. |
| Jacki Apple was an American artist, writer, composer, producer and educator based in Los Angeles, California. She worked in multiple disciplines including radio, performance art and installation art. Her writing appeared in publications such as Performing Arts Journal, Public Art Review and The Drama Review. Jacki was also a critic and a beloved LA art world figure. Her collection of essays, Performance/Media/Art/Culture: Selected Essays 1983-2018, edited by Marina LaPalma (Intellect 2019), was celebrated in 2019 at LACE with a book launch and conversation with John Fleck. More about Jacki’s life and work can be found in her obituary in Artillery. |
