Simon Attwood
Lord of Nothing, 2015
single colour linocut
80 x 112 x 3.5 cm (including frame)
sheet size: 75 x 106 cm
sheet size: 75 x 106 cm
edition of 10
signed, dated, inscribed 'AP' with the title in pencil in the margin
The therianthropic form of a human with the head of an ibis indicates how people are an integrated part of the environment. Humans cannot assume that they are not part...
The therianthropic form of a human with the head of an ibis indicates how people are an integrated part of the environment. Humans cannot assume that they are not part of the environment. If we cut down all the forests of the world and hunt every last bird and animal we will be unable to survive. By firing an arrow into the heart of a bird we are firing an arrow into the heart of humanity. By killing the natural world, people are killing themselves. After the natural resources run out, people will become the rulers of a world containing nothing other than them selves. Just like the ominous figure in this linocut, we will become the lord of nothing. People will be left stranded in a world of dust and homogenous, lifeless emptiness. The birds receding in the background represent the loss of species and the scarcity of the world’s natural resources. The ibis skull is symbolic of the knowledge and wisdom that the ancient Egyptian god, Thoth, represented. People have such a great scientific understanding of the world, yet we are destroying it. The skull is lifeless and represents the cruel, thoughtless, cold-hearted way in which people kill the beings of the natural world in order to gain a surplus of wealth. A surplus of human wealth ultimately causes a scarcity of natural resources.
Simon Attwood, 2015
Simon Attwood, 2015
1
of
43
