I neglected to post a photograph of my quilt for the Taiwan show. Here is the photograph together with my artist's statement about the piece.
My quilt, “Gaia’s Blessings”, was
inspired by the Gaia Theory (or Gaia Hypothesis), which was formulated by the
chemist James Lovelock and co-developed by the microbiologist Lynn Margulis in
the 1970’s. The Gaia Theory proposes
that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a
self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions
for life on the planet. The theory
suggests that organisms co-evolve with their environment. In some versions of Gaia philosophy, all life
forms are considered part of one single living planetary being called Gaia.
In this view, the atmosphere, the seas, and the terrestrial crust would
be results of interventions carried out by Gaia through the co-evolving
diversity of living organisms.
Lovelock
believed that the increase in human population and the environmental impact of
their activities, such as the multiplication of greenhouse gases may cause
negative feedbacks in the environment and that this could bring an extremely
accelerated global warming. He and
Andrew Watson developed the mathematical model “Daisyworld” in which
temperature regulation arises from a simple ecosystem consisting of two species
whose activity varies in response to the planet’s environment. “Daisyworld” examines the energy budget of a
planet populated by two different types of plants: black daisies and white daisies. The color of the daisies influences the reflection
of light by the planet such that black daisies absorb light and warm the
planet, while white daisies reflect light and cool the planet. On “Daisyworld” competition between the
daisies (based on the effects of temperature on growth rates) leads to a
shifting balance of daisy populations that tends to favor a planetary
temperature close to the optimum for daisy growth.
Look around the next time you take a
walk in nature. Do you notice an
abundance of white flowers?
Frances
No comments:
Post a Comment