Urbanautica

Matter
by Sophie Dumaresq

portfolio special mention call 'EXTINCTION. THE WORLD WITHOUT US', 2019

The series of images are of hand dyed and chemically treated human hair introduced into a landscape. The images show a world where humans have become extinct and alien. The only traces left behind of them is their hair. The series explores the relationship between that of the human body, toxicity, and the environment. The cycles of consumption, production and destruction are brought into light through that of the placement of the hand dyed and chemically treated human hair. Human hair in itself can be used a fertiliser due to it being high nitrogen with bonds that are easily digested by plants. Due to industrialised wide spread agriculture we now face soil toxicity where the nitrogen levels have become too high. The series came about while looking into the research being done into the links between environmental exposure to toxins, infertility and related conditions such as PCOS and Endometriosis. The hormonal changes brought on by these conditions cause hair loss. Endometriosis is a condition that has been and is sometimes still dismissed as a symptom of female hysteria. The romantic aesthetic combined with informative captioned text explores how aesthetics effect how we engage with information. The series is aesthetically inspired by the artists childhood love of 19th century scientific illustrations and 70s and 80s science fiction and fantasy films. The series questions our own environmental and emotional foot print, and the role they both play in our evolution and possible extinction as a species.

Review by URBANAUTICA

In the 'Matter' series of visual artist Sophie Dumaresq, the intervention takes place directly in nature. Photography thus becomes a register, a documentation of a performative act. In a dystopian and abandoned climate, we observe the remains of chemically treated hair. A presence that appears immediately toxic. Like a land offended and polluted by the abuse of fertilizers and chemicals which becomes a carrier of poisons and diseases. Progress as a surprise boomerang, the human species has implemented self-injuring actions that threaten its very survival. Again we tend to reflect on the use of the technique, its results and its impacts. A clear message, those who damage nature damage themselves. In fact, toxic agriculture leads to hormonal damage that causes hair loss, for example. The circle closes. What is a sign of a vanished civilization, a projection of a failed future, becomes a warning, a signal. But how many signals will still be needed to reverse the course? Are we still in time or would we be forced to watch our disappearance powerless?