Bamboo (Six Seconds)
Jon Wyatt Photography
www.jonwyatt.co.uk
Jon Wyatt Photography
www.jonwyatt.co.uk
Bamboo (Six Seconds)
Every six seconds fifteen acres of the planet are deforested. That's 60,000 sq metres, or six hectares, or nine football pitches. Every six seconds......the time it's taken you to read these words. Shot in a bamboo forest in Anhui Province, China the exposure time of each of these images is six seconds.
For the Chinese, bamboo holds iconic status, representing the harmony between nature and man - and symbolising civilisation. In folklore, literature, calligraphy and painting bamboo's characteristics embody the finest human virtues - integrity, humility and purity. Comparing a person to bamboo is the highest possible praise of their character.
Touted as a miracle crop to counter deforestation, bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Growing up to four feet a day, one hectare of bamboo sequesters sixty-two tons of carbon dioxide per year. Generating up to 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees it can be used to produce everythingfrom food, fabrics, paper, building material and oil.
However rising demand from the west has brought new environmental concerns for bamboo forests. Increased use of unregulated pesticides for production plus the strong chemical solvents required to process the bamboo have poisoned watercourses and threaten precious animal habitat. Indiscriminate harvesting has resulted in half the world's species of bamboo now being in imminent danger of extinction.
----Every six seconds fifteen acres of the planet are deforested. That's 60,000 sq metres, or six hectares, or nine football pitches. Every six seconds......the time it's taken you to read these words. Shot in a bamboo forest in Anhui Province, China the exposure time of each of these images is six seconds.
For the Chinese, bamboo holds iconic status, representing the harmony between nature and man - and symbolising civilisation. In folklore, literature, calligraphy and painting bamboo's characteristics embody the finest human virtues - integrity, humility and purity. Comparing a person to bamboo is the highest possible praise of their character.
Touted as a miracle crop to counter deforestation, bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Growing up to four feet a day, one hectare of bamboo sequesters sixty-two tons of carbon dioxide per year. Generating up to 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees it can be used to produce everythingfrom food, fabrics, paper, building material and oil.
However rising demand from the west has brought new environmental concerns for bamboo forests. Increased use of unregulated pesticides for production plus the strong chemical solvents required to process the bamboo have poisoned watercourses and threaten precious animal habitat. Indiscriminate harvesting has resulted in half the world's species of bamboo now being in imminent danger of extinction.
Jon Wyatt – Artist Statement
Historically cultures have turned to their natural environment as a source of inspiration for collective identification. Myths, memories and cultural virtues are projected onto the landscape which acquires iconic status, becoming imbued with moral and spiritual significance. Increasingly though, these bonds between a culture and its physical landscape are becoming eroded as we adapt the environment to our own ends rather than allowing it to shape who we are.
My work documents this rift and asks the viewer to re-evaluate our culture’s changed and fraught relationship with the land. I search for ‘tools’ within the landscape that articulate this growing spiritual and cultural detachment. These have included invasive vines (Fault Line), atmospheric phenomena (Huangshan Ltd) and time itself (Bamboo (Six Seconds)). Rhythms of silent beauty are used as a powerful means of engagement with disquieting ideas or issues. Unease permeates the projects, which, through the lens of landscape iconography, address issues of conservation and ecology, ecosystem transition and the ethics of land use and ownership.
www.jonwyatt.co.uk
