How does your work address the relationship between the human and natural worlds? 

 

Miss/Remember/Wish/Save is a way for participants to express their grief, rage, sadness and for the future of the Earth. It gives space to acknowledge the devastating impact humans have had on the natural world while also encouraging forward-thinking and hope that we can repair our broken bonds.

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Solastalgia is the culmination of my research and personal reflections on the Anthropocene era. During my time investigating what it means to be living in this troubled world, the overarching themes of grief, memory, reverence, and celebration have surfaced again and again.

 

The installation is a memorial to the estimated 150-200 species that go extinct every day on Earth. 86% of the species on land and 91% in the ocean have yet to be scientifically identified and named. The memorial commemorates all of the species officially classified in 2018 as “Extinct,” “Extinct in the Wild,” or “Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild)” in reports from various organizations such as The International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International. By using this classifying system I implicate the human hand in the rapid rate of extinction while highlighting the anthropocentric desire to officially record the name and status of a species in order to document and recognize its loss. There are 74 species represented on the wall, leaving 124 blank spaces for the unknown species that never came into contact with the scientific community.

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Biography

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Sophy Tuttle is a visual artist born in Colchester, England and currently residing in Lowell, Massachusetts. Influenced by artists such as Walton Ford, Mark Dion, Alexis Rockman, and Swoon, Sophy uses visual storytelling to reimagine the future, resituate our position in the web of life, and create new narratives that explore regenerative, resilient culture-building among all forms of life. 

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