Yeo Jia Wen 2E/06

This image shows many trees grown in an urban landscape, surrounding many man-made structures like lamp posts and shelters. As compared to these man-made structures, nature is overwhelmingly huge. This shows the vastness of nature in the urban landscape. It depicts nature as a powerful huge entity, covering and overshadowing the structures that man placed amidst them. The smallness of the lamp post amidst its surroundings further illustrates the helplessness of urban society when they interact with nature. This is especially true in the case of natural disasters, where nature would definitely emerge as victors over any society no matter how urban and developed they are. Thus, it can be seen that nature plays an important role in urban society today, as they are huge and influential to the urban landscape. Sunlight penetrating the area from the top right hand corner of the image also suggests a sense of hope derived form nature. This also suggests that nature can be a form of inspiration to man, as man constructs the urban landscape. As such, nature can also be seen as the key inspiration for man in beautifying the urban landscape.

This image shows a man-made structure, one with rocks and a spherical ball, amidst the natural surroundings. It shows the balance and harmony between nature and the urban landscape it is set in. Sunlight shining on the spherical ball brings out the perfect rounded contours of the structure and this sense of perfection is illustrated upon the artificial edgy rocks the ball is placed on. This seems to suggest that things can be more ideal when nature is incorporated into our urban lives, just like how sunlight brings out the perfection of the urban landscape. The plants and trees in the background also bring out the beauty of the man-made structure. As such, it can be seen that nature is harmoniously incorporated into the urban landscape, and plays an important role in eliciting the beauty of the urban landscape and bringing it to perfection.

This image shows a plant growing out of the area it is supposed to be kept in. The plant’s leaves have far extended beyond the string used to withhold them. It is significant as it shows the power of nature of overcoming the restrictions which man impose on them. This image suggests that nature is very influential in urban society today, as she is able to impose their will on man, however unwilling man may be to accept the results. Nature is able to do so in spite of man’s fruitless attempts to suppress it, or prevent it from happening as she has the power over man. It shows that although technology is very advanced in urban society today, it may still fail to defeat nature as nature is an uncontrollable body. It is evident in society we live in today, where we witness natural disasters befall even the richest countries. One clear example would be the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States and caused much devastation to that area. As such, the influential power of nature in urban society today is clearly overwhelming.

Yeo Jia Wen

2E/06