Utilitas (Mediterraneum) II Drawing

The Utilitas series explores the relationship of human beings within nature. The term Utilitas (usefulness in Latin) refers to the act of making nature a commodity. Although members of the animal kingdom, we constantly quest to deny this fact and separate ourselves from nature. This series of images examines and comments on the socio-political and cultural constructs developed to create the illusion of dominance or ownership over nature and our environment – ranging from scientific classification and exploration to rituals of ownership through naming, from religious division to revised evolution through man-made (un-natural) selection. This artwork features the image of a refugee camp, a reference to the act of (forcibly) migrating. Animals migrate to survive, to reach new resources. In this sense, migrating is a natural act. When human beings migrate, we follow primitive behaviour patterns. Trying to limit or stop migration is one of the many ways for mankind to dominate nature.