The picture above shows eight pieces of concrete tiles and a bench placed on top of them. The surrounding area is barren, mainly made up of sand instead of healthy patches of green grass. However further away from the bench, there are many patches of grass growing.
The colours of the concrete tiles and the bench is similar to the colours of the surrounding area. Though the colours blend in well with the surroundings, it is obvious that the concrete tiles and the bench is not supposed to be there. They seem out of place and this represents that man’s efforts in trying to blend in with nature are unsuccessful. Man and therefore his creation, is out of tune with nature.
In the picture, a big patch of grass is being sacrificed just for the sake of putting a bench at that spot. This shows the fact that man is capable of destroying nature for the selfish benefits of himself. It gives the impression that man does not regard nature as significant, for he manipulates nature at his own whims and fancies. It seems as if man is superior to nature because he has the ability to destroy nature and nature is unable to “say no”. However, the purpose of the bench is for visitors to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature.
This is ironic — man wants to enjoy the beauty of nature, but in the process of trying to achieve this, man is actually destroying nature instead. Nature, after being destroyed, is no longer beautiful, so how then can man enjoy the beauty of nature?
This picture shows bushes of bougainvilla and a wooden gazebo. The stems of the bougainvilla plant twine twirl around the wooden structures of the gazebo. The whole plant rests itself on the top of the gazebo. The gazebo thus acts as a support for the bougainvilla plant, enabling it to grow strongly and healthly as well as reach for sunlight. On the other hand, the bougainvilla plant forms a canopy and provides additional shade from the sunlight for the people sitting in the gazebo.
This interrelationship between the bougainvilla plant and the gazebo the proposes the idea that while man man relies on nature, nature relies on man too. Unlike the case in the previous picture where man’s creation is in conflict with nature, there is harmony between nature and man’s creation in this case instead. Not every creation of man is detrimental to nature, as long as it is used in the positive way, nature can benefit from man’s creation too.
The colour of the bougainvilla plant is mainly green, with vibrant specks of pink and red. It gives a very lively and cheerful sensation. On the other hand, the gazebo, being brown in colour, makes it look dull and lifeless. When these two elements come together, they complement each other and the gazebo does not look as dull anymore.
The swan in the middle of the picture is making use of the pavement made by man. This shows that nature makes use of man’s creation. The place where the pavement is was most probably covered by grass instead. That is what it was supposed to be originally. However, to accommodate to man’s demands and meet man’s selfish needs, the grass was removed and converted to pavement instead. The swan which was supposed to walk the grass, now has to walk on the pavement because man leaves it with no other choice.
The grass in the background of the picture is being forced to grow at the side of the pavement. Man controls and intervenes the natural growth of the grass, restricting it to only a certain area.
These two cases portray the same idea – because of man’s creations and actions, nature has lost its true beauty. Man forces nature to compromise and suit his demands and needs. This also gives the impression that man thinks that he is superior to nature and has control over nature. Man does not see anything wrong in trying to subjugate nature. This attitude of man is frightening because if man continues to manipulate nature and oppose nature, there will eventually be a day where nature retaliates and by then, it is too late for any regrets.
Melanie Fan
2C/06
No comments:
Post a Comment