'La Pière de La Nature' (Nature's Prayer) Painting

'La Pière de La Nature' is a painting from a series called 'Nature Fragile' that documents my response to the devastating impact of human beings on the natural world. The painting was inspired by the small street shrines/frescos and alcoved altar pieces I noticed around the streets of Florence. I was told that these were used during the plague of 1348 (though some date back as far as pre-Christian Roman times) when it was too dangerous for people to congregate in large numbers. These modest markers allowed for solitary prayer at a time when a desperate, frightened people must have felt that they were facing their own extinction. Likewise, the intimate altar within the painting is imploring us to notice an encroaching obliteration of the natural world.