Drawing Biophilia

The biophilia hypothesis posits that humans have an innate tendency towards nature and natural things (E.O. Wilson) due to the evolved response to living in stimulating natural environments, long before the existence of cities and urban environments.

​

Drawing itself has originated as a form of communication, before written text. Indigenous art and mark making found in caves and rocks show simplistic depictions of objects, stylised patterns and a fascination with the natural world.

​

However, both our supposed inherent ‘love’ of nature and inherited capacity to draw is somewhat lost in today’s technologically pervasive culture, where we spend most of our time indoors facing screens, typing or drawing digitally opposed to with our bodies.

​

The initial drawing workshop with Juliet Goodden will kickstart a series of investigations through drawing of ‘biophilia’, from basic ‘traces’ and mark making, to investigating patterns, abstraction and through this, explore the theories around biophilia and represent its ineffable qualities. I will also begin to explore if biophilia could be expressed with technological methods or a technological aesthetic.