The Last Time | afterness

NOT FOR SALE

In the book of life
how might you be stitched
mottled, rust on your lips? Come back.

When you were here, the last time
thin fingers tracing the vein of a leaf
inhabiting these crumbling textures

a space opened, leaving its imprint
as absence, slowly decomposing,
twigs, moss, sweet decay. All life begins

at the roots, soil, carbon, mineral, matter,
the vibrancy of green moss on a fallen log,
woody debris, resin, the impression of your hand.

This is the spot between your world and mine
where there is no distinction between daylight
and nightfall, the soft rustle, antechinus and woodlice.

How might I breath out this life
after all I’ve been given, siltstone, claystone
together here, out of time’s flow.

What marks did we leave? Scars, detritus
layers of plastic, radioactive isotopes,
space junk, suffering, catacombs, fractals

everything breaks down, de-molecularises
liberated from the bodies we held to ugly standards
cut from the same handmade cloth, shamed, lost

returned to ground, healed. We are already written
into the story, these filaments, this network, rhizosphere
come to me, your rough tender edges unfolding.

Artist statement

ieva

Afterness is a documentation of my personal practice and experiences as an eco artist, exploring the intricate beauty of the Australian bush and importance of its preservation and appreciation. I explored the process of rusting as a symbol of industrial decay consuming our natural world, as the natural process of rusting consumes man made things. By capturing moments from nature, corroded by the rusting process, i hoped to draw focus to the fact that nothing ever lasts forever, but nothing is ever truly gone.

I encourage personal engagement with the concepts of decay and rebirth within our world and how that’s challenged by the way we as humans interact with our natural environments.

I want everyone to be aware of their impact on this earth and to remember decay does not equal death, and there will always be an afterness without us.