More than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Yet this connection to the built-up environment is only a recent invention. Since humans first evolved, we’ve lived with nature, eating what it produces and creating shelters from natural materials. The film and photography of José Jacobo Cárdenas Lorca are a reminder of the spiritual connection we once had with nature, a connection many indigenous populations still have, and one we can all reconnect with when we embrace the natural world around us.
Being born in Chile and now living and working in the UK means his work can compare the ancestral links between the two cultures to nature, and also examine how the destruction of forests has impacted both countries.
In his ‘Mercurial Landscape’ series, he has captured one of the last temperate rainforests in the UK and given it an unnatural glow. Accompanied by a crackling soundscape of the trees, it references how the industrial and technological revolutions have made these types of environments, once prevalent in the British Isles, a rarity.
Using technology to convey this message reminded me of its duality: it has enabled so much advancement, but at a heavy price. It’s up to the viewer to decide whether that price was worth it, and what steps we should take next to address the damage it has caused.
‘Invocation’ takes us to his native Chile as ancient symbols projected onto trees and the ground create a spiritual atmosphere in these works. When standing alone at night in a darkened forest, unfamiliar noises emanating from the darkness can feel eerie and evoke a sense of fear. We can think of these photographs and their glowing symbols as the only thing holding back the enveloping darkness.
While the connection to elemental forces is prevalent throughout the artist’s practice, I like how it doesn’t limit him to representational works. Films featuring pulsating close-ups of shale and digitally manipulated footage of the sun and its reflections feel surreal and hallucinatory as we lose ourselves in their movements.
His books also allow viewers to experience his works through a different medium, outside the traditional gallery setting. Yet, even then, natural elements make their way into his work with the collaborative book ‘Grief’ encased within the reclaimed trunk of a sweet chestnut. Requiring two people to open it subverts the solitary act of reading into a communal one, and it’s only through community that we will solve the climate emergency we are living through.
It’s only in recent decades that the climate crisis has reached the top of the global agenda, and that Western audiences are starting to recognise that the relationships that Indigenous persons have with nature are much healthier than how many of us in urban centres feel removed from it. It has led more artists to engage with ecological themes in their work, and José Jacobo Cárdenas Lorca’s multimedia approach to this topic ensures his works leave a lasting impact.
More information on the artist’s work may be found on his Instagram.
