A conversation with Carol Preston about death and decay
Do you think that visual/tangible “reminders” of death make a difference in a setting/place where death is being discussed?
I would say, yes. However, at the same time I think it would depend on what the individual person’s motivation was for attending a discussion such as we had on Saturday. I would say that each attendee would have a different response to the reminders of death in the room, depending on their motivation for attending. It is impossible to say what this was since many did not contribute to the conversation, but I do hope that any difference to the conversation for the attendees was a positive one. Having said that, and speaking for myself, I was profoundly aware of the objects in the space, and also that experience is both deeply layered and personal.
Your work raises necessary questions and concerns about the destructive impact human rapaciousness and anthropocentrism has on the natural world. What influenced/influences your sense of environmental consciousness?
At a very young age I was deeply concerned by the smoke that was going into the atmosphere from my parents’ smoking habits, but as I grew older I realised that this was minuscule in the broader scheme of things. While I have no idea where my anxiety over pollution originally stemmed from, it certainly has been a driving factor throughout my life. That children are not taught to take care of the environment is abhorrent to me, while I understand the layers of capitalism and politics that have led to this poor environmental behaviour.
Having moved from Johannesburg to the tiny village of Wakkerstroom 10 years ago has heightened this. In rural areas it is impossible to ignore day-to-day wanton disrespect for the natural environment, by all social sectors of the community, worsened by collapsed and corrupt municipalities. The life and death struggle that animals, plants, land and livestock have to endure at the hands of humans is visible here, where it is less so in cities. This drives both my work as a visual artist and my work with children and communities within the arts.
What motivates/ motivated you to create art focused on the said destructive impact that humankind has had and is having on the planet?
I believe that all humans have a responsibility to use what knowledge and talents they have to improve life in the smallest or biggest ways possible. All of us have strengths that are specific to each of us. This is somewhat like the biblical parable where the servants are given talents (in this context, money) by the master to make good with them, and it is the responsibility for us to use our talents.
I have a background in the visual and performing arts and I feel a distinct sense of responsibility to use this in advocacy for the non-humans that cannot speak for themselves. It is difficult for anyone who works within the environmental sector to believe that any change can be made by the little that we are able to do, but with considered, careful and reflective work, I truly believe that change can be made, and even on a small level it will always count for something.
Your artist’s statement concludes with, “The journey through ‘Cause of Death’ invites us to face the consequences of our actions and reflect on how we can restore balance between human and nonhuman life on Earth”. How, do you believe, can we restore this balance?
Throughout modern history it has been the white Christian male that has been at the apex of forces that drive the planet. Over the past 70 years or so women, people of colour, children, the disabled, queer and indigenous populations have begun to claim their rightful place next to the white male. Last to receive rightful respect is the natural environment, which is ironic since all life depends on it. In my opinion this has been too slow, and the faster we move towards 8-billion people, and the faster we move towards an overheated planet, the faster human attitude needs to change.
The only way there will be any shift is if we move from the biblical “take dominion of the Earth” to the pagan “do no harm” and move towards the inclusive belief systems of indigenous populations that see no inequality between humans and the non-human. But this needs to include everyone, from the top government and corporate environs that drive the greed, violence and fear that we exist in today, down to the children in our classrooms.