Liquid Graphite on Mylar Drafting Film

41 x 53 cm

This drawing was made while I was artist in residence at Brantwood, home of John Ruskin at Coniston, Cumbria. It responds to Ruskin’s love for and practice of drawing and his premonition that the factories of industrialized England produced airborne pollutants, a ‘plague wind’ souring the skies over his beloved Coniston Water. Ruskin’s bedroom is both an eyrie and an intimate space. The lantern window affords extensive views, yet the room feels warm and familiar. For me, this space embodied the paradox of what we know externally and rationally of climate crisis, and the difficulty of seeing and responding personally.