Daryl Ho 2F06

This is a powerful image, an image showing a cluster of plant struggling to survive within the cracks of two bricks. The two bricks signify the power of man, its attempt to master nature and extend his dominion over the every aspect of nature, including the basic form of life, grass. However, even the simplest facet of nature manages to struggle out of man’s grasp. Choked between the oppressive and crushing force of man, nature manages to survive even in the toughest of conditions, while the brick breaks and cracks form as time goes on, nature manages to survive, proving its ultimate superiority of nature’s resilience over the fragility of man and its constructs.

The place of nature in society today as seen in this photo is one that is being downtrodden literally by man, covered up by our artificial structures and oppressed. However nature is not one to be toyed with and then forgotten, it is still prominent everywhere, thriving when our structures bend and crack and succumb to entropy.

This picture shows a stone trail or reflexology walk through a grass patch flanked by bamboos and bushes. This is a peaceful scene, with the man-made construct blending in with the environment, a rare sight. This peaceful image of man and nature complementing each other shows that Man, no matter how powerful and domineering he is, will still have to bow down to the might and beauty of nature, realizing that true beauty lies in nature, and thus Man strives to recreate the same wonderful image.

Despite the fact that Man has the ability to shape and mould nature into anything he desires, all of the beauty created by man is in actual fact dictated by nature itself. Without nature’s accompaniment, the reflexology walk is but a path filled with stones, but once you insert nature’s beauty and grace, a perfect image and atmosphere is created. This image shows that Nature still has a huge part to play in an urban environment, injecting life, grace and beauty into our concrete jungles.

This picture depicts a wooden structure in the middle of the Botanic Gardens, ferns are hanging on it. The wooden structure is carved by Man and signifies Man’s mastery over nature; the plant requires the wooden structure for support and needs it to live. This shows man’s complete dominion over the basic elements of nature, Man has reached a status such that nature, for all its might and glory, requires Man’s cooperation to survive. The plants liven up the place, adding colour and life into the monotony of the dull brown wood, signifying the symbiotic nature of Man and Nature.

All of these photos show that despite the fact that nature is full of might and beauty, Man still plays an important role in preserving it. The Botanic Gardens could easily convert into a New Town and the elegance and beauty of Nature would be lost, and with this sort of modernization happening on the global scale, it might very well be irreversible.