Biophilia

Biophilia aims to shed light on ecological issues both in the UK and on the intense and pressing scale globally; the term Biophilia is a hypothesis that attests ‘that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life.’ The work was created using a combination of imagery which was sourced by gathering loose detritus around woodlands and national park areas in Somerset and scanning images of the various flora. Alongside this are articles, sections taken from newspapers and text by environmental writers such as George Monbiot & Andrew Balmford. The design and layout of this project take an experimental form, with a duality of function in how the book is constructed; each chapter is formed around a central bind but also encloses a poster. The pages are constructed using 4 different stocks of paper in a multiplicity of sizes. This non-uniformity within the book, and the viewer’s nontraditional interaction with the pages as they shift and change, represents the biodiversity, change and flux found in the natural world, which we are also part of. The pages are also pierced with holes which not only play upon ideas of shifting perspectives but represent the degradation and decay of our environment and loss of connection to our surrounding habitats and wildlife.