Ya'el Pedroa: Humanocene -VENUE CLOSED

“We often forget that WE ARE NATURE. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.” 
From Scared Ecology, Andy Goldsworthy

This exhibition reflects on the artist’s relationship to the natural world—in both spiritual and visceral ways. Her title, Humanocene, is a blend of two words, human, and Anthropocene, our current geological epoch that is defined by rapid changes to ecological systems and climate, largely from human impact.

While Pedroza’s work acknowledges the effect of humans on the earth through the inclusion of trash, debris, and felled tree stumps, it also creates a more optimistic counter, by depicting nature as a capable, prevailing, and mystical entity with the ability to restructure and resuscitate itself. For Pedroza, our ability to correct damage to the earth must start with our reconnection to the land. She says, “Being in nature for me is experiential and awakens my senses, filling me with life. We cannot afford to lose our connection with nature, the connection to ourselves.”