What Once Was. The Apocalypse Is Now. Rainforest

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Artist: Joanna Rogers

Title: What Once Was. The Apocalypse Is Now. Rainforest

Attribution: What Once Was. The Apocalypse Is Now. Rainforest. 2024. Joanna Rogers

Year: 2024

Materials: Cotton dyed with iron and tannins, hand dyed and hand woven mercerized cotton thread, lichen, wooden beads

Dimensions: 30" x 35"

Image Statement: What Once Was: The Apocalypse is Now consists of pieces fashioned after a vintage woman’s shift all of which comment on the global destruction of species and habitats in our rush to harvest the remaining natural resources, whatever the cost. This piece has been dyed and overdyed in iron and tannin vats to create a richly layered effect resembling a garment that has been recently unearthed from a future archaeological dig. Along with its counterpart for the Boreal Forest, this piece speaks to the global destruction of our forests. Living in British Columbia, I am acutely aware of the threat facing the native rainforest in this province. 2021 and 2022 saw a renewed effort to protect old growth trees in the rainforest north east of Port Renfrew from logging. This protest follows in the steps of those in the 1990s which saved the Carmanah and Walbran valleys in Clayoquot Sound from being logged and the Stein Valley near Lytton from facing a similar fate. This piece pays tribute to the protestors who faught to save these old growth forests but also acts as a reminder of what can happen if present and future governments refuse to continue protecting these ecologically crucial habitats.