PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Essig, Matilda
TI  - Portraits of Grasses
AID  - 10.3368/er.26.3.206
DP  - 2008 Sep 01
TA  - Ecological Restoration
PG  - 206--212
VI  - 26
IP  - 3
4099  - http://er.uwpress.org/content/26/3/206.short
4100  - http://er.uwpress.org/content/26/3/206.full
AB  - Ecological restoration is a cultural choice. I understand our world to be in a crisis of perception: we see ourselves as separate or somehow independent from the natural world. As an artist and a restorationist, I have always sought to foster a sense of reconnection between human culture and the natural world. I try to help people see how, even in the face of dramatic ecological damage, our individual actions will make a difference. Part of the answer is to return to the source with the tools of the future. Through my art, and specifically the imaging of biodiversity, I work to let the life forms of nature express their own beauty, their character, diversity, adaptation, and resilience. For me, this is also work to restore the role of art as visionary vehicle in human civilization.