The Sole Seed and the Space Ark (Wayne Ferrebee, 2019) Wood and Mixed Media
A month or so ago, I wrote a heartfelt post about humankind’s relationship with other living things and why I feel that our ultimate destiny lies beyond the Earth. I am still thinking about how to say that message with all of the grace and power I can muster. Everyone paying attention to current trends fears for the future of living things. As humankind’s appetites grow exponentially we are bringing terrifying changes. Yet humankind’s knowledge and abilities are growing too. I hope you will read the post…or at least its Biblical-themed follow-up concerning the art of Noah’s ark. in the meantime, I made a sculpture shaped like a flatfish to try to explain my conception in the non-linear language of symbols (coincidentally, flatfish are my symbol for Earth life with its hunger and deep beautiful sadness and with a known tendency to desperately snap at baited hooks). There is the tree of life sprouting anew out of a battered ark and spreading seeds upon the cosmic wind (or are those pink stars?). Above the ark is a mysterious figure which may be a symbol of our “life instinct” and our need to disseminate ourselves (or it may be a shrugging cartoonish new human–who can say?). Interred in the crypt beneath the universe is the inverse reflection of the life instinct: our Thanatos death instinct (for we take it with us always, no matter where we go). It is pictured as a strange human/lamprey mummy-thing writhing its gray fluke in its cramped chamber.
The cosmic fluke has a perplexed expression. Perhaps it is less sure than I about the wisdom of venturing out into the unknown. Or maybe it is just hungry…like all living things.
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May 29, 2019 at 12:00 PM
hooftales
thank you for continuing to think about how to communicate your vision for humankind’s future. i wish more people would do that.
i took special notice of your comment that people have grown morally as well as in technology but I’m not so sure ( that humanity has really kept up with technology).
the other day i went to the local grocery store. it was (is) hot and the parking lot was baking. i was distressed at a number of people who were sitting in their cars with the engine running and the air conditioner on. the air around the running cars was even hotter, and i felt like engaging the car sitters in conversation, and asking them if they were unaware of climate change, or if they were aware and wanted to speed up the process and get it over with . (bitter laughter).
in making decisions, the Iroquois confederacy is supposed to have taken 7 generations of their descendants into account. i think that’s the mind set we need, but how to achieve it?
anyway, thanks again for sharing your thoughts and beautiful artwork with us.
May 31, 2019 at 11:04 AM
Wayne
Well…I’m not sure all of humanity has kept up with technology, but we ARE changing for the better. I studied classical history in college and the dominant interaction between nation states in that period was for the powerful nation to show up and demand fealty & tribute. If capitulation was not immediately forthcoming, the dominant nation would kill all the soldiers and make everyone else into slaves. It was the entire basis of the economy. Capitalism is problematic…but nothing like THAT. Even the twentieth century was marked by a shift from great power world wars to an uneasy worldwide pax based around agreed-upon borders. I think we are moving forward morally again, which is why everything seems so awful and perilous. The Pax Americana (and the system of global capitalism which undergirds it) is coming apart because of its long success. It needs to be replaced by something better which gives opportunities to all while stabilizing the population and protecting the natural world. Trying to accomplish that is hard and all of these vile dictators are insinuating themselves in to the process by appealing to the fearful and the ignorant. Humankind’s collective moral growth is like the moral growth of a teenager. Every step forward comes with huge problems and perils. It is unclear if progress is being made…yet clearly progress IS being made, or we would all be sailing around in slaveships and triremes.
May 30, 2019 at 11:48 AM
Mom
I am guilty of sitting in the parking lot with the engine running in our totally electric car fueled by our solar panels–no emissions in the parking lot. The solar panels are great–we have an electric house with air conditioning, electric stove, dryer, etc. and we charge our car every day when we get home. Our electric bills are $0 to minimal, even in winter.
May 31, 2019 at 12:38 PM
Wayne
I have been selling people on your solar array too. It is really impressive and shows forward thinking, good sense, and outstanding moral responsibility! (although you maybe left out the part where you cut down part of a forest to pay for it😊).
June 5, 2019 at 3:18 PM
mom
Our woodlot is reclaimed farmland for the most part and we only cut down a couple of trees per acre. The brush piles here and there are good for wildlife and the sun can reach the ground in a few places now. Baby trees, especially hickory, are growing like crazy. At least we don’t have Henry collecting hickory withes for rocking chairs.
June 6, 2019 at 11:01 AM
Wayne
Awww…I miss Henry and his beautiful rockers. Don’t worry, I wasn’t too concerned about lasting damage to your forest: it looked great last time I was there.