Portland — drawing & animation

•

»How do humans affect the landscape?«

We have dealt with this question in the module »On The Horizon« initiated by Prof. Katja Davar.

We live in an age in which we intervene massively in the environment, seal more and more land, reduce raw materials and leave lunar landscapes that need to be elaborately renatured. While we try to repair mother earth, we interfere deeper and deeper into the natural cycle.

For my project, I drew the surroundings of the cement works in Mainz and built a three-dimensional world out of the drawings. Among the locals, this area is referred to as »Portland« – standing for the well-known Portland cement. For decades limestone was mined here – until it was no longer economical. Now these areas are renatured and declared as nature reserves.

In my drawings, I wanted to separate nature from manmade. As a result, all buildings and objects created by man, are sketched on-site as quick permanent marker drawings. Nature is represented by frottage and in all scenes no people are shown, due to humans being constantly present.

The five-minute animation is accompanied by recorded sounds from the environment. Concise are the many trains, planes and the highway. A place where hardly anything seems natural anymore and there is hardly any retreat for man and nature.