A VISUAL LANGUAGE SPEAKING FOR THE CLIMATE, NATURE AND HER WILD CREATURES

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

— EINSTEIN

GARDENERS OF EDEN COLLECTION (2022 - 2024)

Titled after the documentary film of the same name, the eponymous painting in this collection appears benign, even joyful, yet posits an unfolding ecological disaster with potentially far-reaching consequences. Elephants are a keystone species, meaning that many additional creatures such as zebras and impalas are dependant for their survival on the habitat-clearing work of elephants, who are known as “The Gardeners of Eden”. Elephants are a subject the artist returns to repeatedly. These ‘Delicate and Mighty’ creatures live in matriarchal societies relying on the wisdom of their elder stateswomen who are at the hub of complex social networks. Additionally, the idea that groups led by older matriarchs might have a survival advantage is supported by a study of elephants in Tangarire National Park in Tanzania.

We are facing an extinction crisis. Scientists predict that humanity’s footprint on the planet may cause the loss of 50% of all species by the end of the century. We have entered the sixth major extinction in Earth’s history, following the fifth great extinction causing the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Climate change, our impact on the environment, habitat loss and the current rapid rate of extinction are all issues which have devastating implications as the biggest challenges we face. We are racing extinction and we cannot afford to lose.

Three of the works in this collection are diptychs, and many are created with Natural Earth Paints, certified non-toxic with no harm to the environment. Because of their undiluted purity, these paints have a time-tested durability of thousands of years dating back to cave paintings. They are archival, their pure pigments are the most permanent of all and are completely unaffected by UV rays. The pigment particles are larger and more irregular than synthetic pigments, which allows for more light to pass through them, creating a paint that has a higher refraction-vibrancy. These paints have a connection with nature and the earth beneath our feet.

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IMAGE INFORMATION:

Featured

'GARDENERS OF EDEN'

Acrylic on box canvas. 200 cm x 100 cm. 2022-3

Featured in Create! Magazine

Titled after the documentary film of the same name, the principle painting in this collection appears benign, even joyful yet posits an unfolding ecological disaster with potentially far-reaching consequences. Not least of which is the loss of additional creatures such as zebras and impalas, dependant for their survival on the habitat-clearing work of elephants who are known as “The Gardeners of Eden”. Elephants are a subject the artist returns to repeatedly. These ‘Delicate and Mighty’ creatures live in matriarchal societies relying on the wisdom of their elder stateswomen who are at the hub of complex social networks. Additionally, the idea that groups led by older matriarchs might have a survival advantage is supported by a study of elephants in Tangarire National Park in Tanzania.

'BURNING WORLD'

Acrylic on box canvas. 200 cm x 100 cm. 2023

Featured in Create! Magazine

Titled after J.G. Ballard’s novel ‘The Burning World’ and inspired by Henri Rousseau’s painting, ‘Surprised!’ this work simultaneously speaks to current events and mankind’s limitless ability to be caught out by recurring catastrophic climate events which should, by now, have an unfortunate predictability.

Uncontrollable and devastating wildfires are becoming an expected part of our seasonal calendars. They occur on every continent except Antarctica and most regions experience weather conditions conducive to the outbreak of a wildfire at some point in the year. Wildfires in ecosystems like peatlands and rainforests, which store large amounts of irrecoverable terrestrial carbon, release vast quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, exacerbating global warming. In this way, wildfires may accelerate the positive feedback loop in the carbon cycle, making it more difficult to halt rising temperatures.

'TRUTH' (AFTER BRITON RIVIERE)

Acrylic and Natural Earth pigments, on box canvas. 100 cm x 70 cm 2024

‘Truth’ references ‘Una and the Lion’ depicted by Briton Riviere, inspired by ‘The Faerie Queene’, one of the great long poems in the English language, written in the 16th century by Edmund Spenser. The Faerie Queene is notable for its rich use of language, and its innovative verse form, the Spenserian stanza. An epic poem, characterized by its extensive use of allegory, the characters, events, and settings all represent abstract qualities, concepts, and moral or ethical ideas. It delves into themes of chivalry, morality, and the power of good over evil. It follows the adventures of several knights, each of whom represents a different virtue, and Una who represents truth.

'PANTA RHEI'

Natural Earth pigments, on box canvas. 100 cm x 70 cm 2024

Panta Rhei translated as Everything Flows is one of the most famous philosophical quotes of all times.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man..”

England’s rivers, include 85% of the world’s precious chalk streams, yet only 14% are in good ecological health, and all fail to meet chemical standards.

'APHRODITE' (AFTER BRITON RIVIERE)

Best known as an animal painter, Riviere was considered the successor to Britain’s great animalier Sir Edwin Landseer.

Aphrodite is a scene showing the goddess of love and beauty surrounded by a group of wild animals, seemingly under her spell. The painting is inspired by an unusual scene derived from a Homeric hymn (8th-6th centuries BC). A label written by the artist is attached to the reverse of Rivière’s painting, and contains the specific verse:

Aphrodite

There clad herself in garments beautiful
The laughter loving goddess. Gold-adorned
She hasted on her way down Ida’s Mount,
Ida, the many-rilled, mother of wild beasts
And in her train, the grey wolf and the bear,
the keen eyed lion and the swift footed pard,
that hungers for the hind, all fawning came.

Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

'AS ONE GREAT FURNACE FLAMED'

Natural Earth pigments, on box canvas. 100 cm x 100 cm 2024

‘..Yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe.’

'A FIFTY MILLION YEAR OLD SMILE'

Natural Earth pigments, on box canvas. 150 cm x 100 cm 2025

Title from the book-length poem Whale Nation by Heathcote Williams:

“From space, the planet is blue,
From space, the planet is the territory
Not of humans, but of the whale.
Blue seas cover seven-tenths of the earth’s surface,
And are the domain of the largest brain ever created,
With a fifty-million-year-old-smile.”

The poem honours the beauty, intelligence and majesty of the largest mammal on Earth.

“The poem is overwhelming…brilliant, cunning, dramatic and wonderfully moving, a steady accumulation of grandeur and dreadfulness – and never any sense of exploiting the subject for poetic or literary effects, just a measured unfolding of real things from the heart of the subject” Ted Hughes writing of Heathcote Williams’s celebration of the most mysterious, gifted and intelligent creature to inhabit the high seas.

'THE SOURCE'

COLLABORATION WITH CHARITY: WATER AND THE OTHER ART FAIR (PRIVATE COLLECTION, U.K.)

Acrylic on box canvas. 61 cm x 61 cm. 2023

Water is recognised as a basic human right, yet millions of people still lack basic drinking water access. charity: water is a nonprofit organisation bringing clean and safe water to people around the world in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. So far they have funded over 130,000 water projects in 29 countries around the world with the help of local partners. Claire Milner is one of a handful of artists selected to collaborate with charity:water in partnership with The Other Art Fair. Work created will be available at the fair in London from 12 – 15 October at the Truman Brewery.

'OCEAN UNICORNS'

Acrylic on box canvas. 100 cm x 100 cm. 2022

Often dubbed the unicorns of the sea, narwhals are strange and beautiful creatures with long tusks protruding from their heads. The narwhal tusk—most commonly found on males—is actually an enlarged tooth with sensory capability and up to 10 million nerve endings inside.

'THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL'

Natural Earth pigments, on box canvas. 70 cm x 70 cm 2025

'THE WRONG KIND OF BLUE'

Natural Earth pigments, on box canvas. 100 cm x 100 cm 2024

'THE SIXTH'

Acrylic, Handmade Paper and Swarovski Crystals on box canvas.
61 cm x 61cm. 2022.

Selected by the organisers of Hampstead Art Fair for ‘The Power of Words’ curated wall.

According to a recent analysis, the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. The study, conducted by scientists from 22 different institutions in six countries, confirmed the sixth mass extinction. The study states that this mass extinction differs from previous ones because it is entirely driven by human activity through changes in land use, climate, pollution, hunting, fishing and poaching.

Five previous mass extinctions are:
Ordovician-silurian Extinction: 440 million years ago.
Devonian Extinction: 365 million years ago.
Permian-triassic Extinction: 250 million years ago.
Triassic-jurassic Extinction: 210 million years ago.
Cretaceous-tertiary Extinction: 65 Million Years Ago.

WOLF AND FOX HUNT (AFTER RUBENS)

'REWILDING'

Acrylic on box canvas. 200 cm x 150 cm. 2023

Featured in Create! Magazine

Inspired by the paintings of Henri Rousseau ‘Rewinding’ imagines a world after human civilisation has destroyed itself. This is a world where remaining architecture becomes superseded by nature and wildlife.

'AFTER THE FALL'

Acrylic on box canvas. 100 cm x 150 cm. 2023

Inspired by the paintings of Henri Rousseau ‘After The Fall’ refers not only to the fall of Rome, but of human civilisation. This is a world where remaining architecture becomes superseded by nature and wildlife.

'THE DREAM'

Mixed Media with Natural Earth pigments. 95cm x 95cm

Selected for ‘A Thousand Words’ virtual exhibition curated by Gita Joshi at The Curator’s Salon.
Featured in The Curator’s Salon.

This painting focuses on the Leuser Ecosystem which is one of the most ancient and life-rich ecosystems ever documented by science. It is the last place on Earth where Sumatran orangutans, elephants, tigers, rhinos and sunbears still roam the same habitat, a hotspot of biodiversity and among the most important areas of intact rainforest left in Southeast Asia. Industrial development for palm oil, pulp and paper plantations and mining continues to threaten the entire ecosystem, despite being technically protected under Indonesian national law.