Nina Cappellano
Cycles, 2020
Mixed media
12 x12 x 1.5 inches each
My piece entitled Cycles weaves together the human experience and the natural world. In three 12’’x12’’ diorama-type boxes, I have juxtaposed images of the natural world— frog embryos, cocoons, bacteria, a dead bird— along with moments from adolescence. These images are brought together and abstracted, expanded, and cropped until the natural world and human experience are indistinguishable. The diorama form creates something resembling an ecosystem, implementing acrylic paint, Apoxie sculpt, and unconventional materials to create a three-dimensional space. These wall-based sculptures are created using acrylic paint, Apoxie sculpt, paper mache, and multiple other materials to create a three-dimensional space.
Cycles attempts to highlight the human tendency to separate ourselves from the natural world, viewing our life cycles, our ways of reasoning, our fears and desires as superior and distinctly human. We view nature as a separate entity that is there purely for us to dominate. However, humans are as much a part of nature as anything else; our cycles and instincts are no different from those of other animals and organisms. In addition, we are just as vulnerable to our environment and dependent on its survival. Viewing ourselves as inherently connected to the natural world is crucial to our preservation of the environment, and the preservation of ourselves.
