POEM OF EARTH WE ARE LIVING

She’s testing us, that’s all.
She tried to raise us
So we could help each other out
When aid was needed.

Some tried to be independent
And not cooperate with the rest.

Others were mature from the start
So no one would ever feel left out
Unless they wanted to.

But our mother is one,
So why must we fight
Amongst each other,
While watching her die?

Instead, we should be mourning
The loss of our creator
And share her pain.

We are the ones that are killing her.
So we need to come together again

 
And save our Mother Earth.

SUSANNAH MARTIN’S ART AND STATEMENT

It hardly needs to be stated that we humans have a deep need to look at one another but exactly which transformations take place within us when we observe another human being, especially a naked human being? Leaving aside, to the degree that it is possible, any sexual motivation, what do we stand to gain by observing this foreign exposed “other”? What do we establish? Certainly; intimacy, sympathy, trust. In fact, their “otherness” disappears rapidly. Or does the image provoke discomfort, an uneasiness with human intimacy? Does this uneasiness reflect a lack of balance indicative of our times? What are the causes of it?

Every article of clothing, accessory, object that we acquire as good consumers contributes to our idea of identity which we form as a type of protection. Our “stuff” allows us to feel as if we are more than what we really are, mortals. While the stuff creates a shield against mortality it also serves to define and separate us from one another, the haves from the have nots. It is however the things which we have in common which bring us closer, not our differences. What we all share is our physical presence on earth, our interdependence on nature and our collective subconscious.

By stripping my people of their clothing, I am stripping them of all social indicators, status, etc. and this allows me to focus on their essential being and relationship to nature. The increasingly disturbed relationship between man and nature is at present what is behind the greatest threats to our well being and our future existence. To serve my purpose I have picked up a tie to a very classic art form with a long tradition ( at least before the 20th century) the nude in landscape. I am updating this classic appreciation of humanity and nature with a more contemporary way of looking; a more “photographic” aesthetic, more realistic gestures and compositions, less romanticism, while maintaining a tie to the long tradition of the painted nude through my use of classical painting techniques. Through this process, I hope to make my subject more accessible to people today, lest we believe that man´s state of union with nature, and with his fellow man, is a memory of the past, lost forever.

SUSANNAH MARTIN’S ART AND STATEMENT

GREENSEA