‘Alternative World: Specimens from a Lost Civilisation’ is a project that explores the idea of alternative reality. I am interested in the existence of non-human life forms, their potential ways of experiencing the world and the fact that they exist amongst us in a way that often goes unnoticed. My aim was to produce a body of work that gets the viewer to explore a perspective of being that is other from what they know. Through speculation and imagination, empathy for those that are unfamiliar is evoked.
Each painting in the series represents an imagined being that is similar to what can be described as a creature-plant hybrid. These lifeforms act as traces of a fictional extinct civilisation. They are something to be analysed and observed by the viewer, in a way that is like a scientist trying to investigate unknown qualities within a found specimen. During this process, the individual personality, lifestyle and characteristics of each life-form begin to emerge.
This idea was inspired by my research on reproductions of historical artefacts (facsimiles) that give a modern viewer a way of connecting to a place, and way of existence that is unknown. They provide a documentation of something precious and untouchable. In a similar way, the paintings act as accessible connection points to the alternate world from which they originate.
Each painting was developed from a physical 3D model that I produced using a collection of everyday materials : tinfoil, pins, tissue paper and polystyrene chips used for packaging. Through distortion and re-arrangement, these mundane and synthetic materials are transformed into something ethereal and organic due to their biomorphic look. By painting the models, the materials they were formed from become disguised within the life forms. The illusion of this is reflective of the interconnection between humans and nature in the earthly world that we are familiar with.
Professional links to more of my work:
-Instagram: @isobelle_m_art https://www.instagram.com/isobelle_m_art/
Foundation Diploma in Art, Design & Media Practice - Farnham 
Luca Roebuck | Pre-degree & Foundation Studies
