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As part of an environmental art festival at the Ionion Art Center in Greece, I had the pleasure of showing 6 community participants of all ages how to create worm art paintings.
These are their works and the videos.
Humans are probably the most invasive and damaging animal species to our planet’s
ecology currently. One such development is the creation of poor soil fertility by the
killing of earthworms indirectly from the toxic chemicals (e.g.: fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides) farmers use regularly on their crops to increase yields and the
marketability of their products (e.g. no blemishes on fruits and vegetables). This
diminishes soil fertility thus forcing farmers to use fertilizers.
The goal of this ecological art project is to increase the awareness of the general public to
the ecological cost of perfect-looking vegetables, fruits, gardens, and lawns. The works
begin by painting on paper or canvas signs and symbols containing commercially
available agrochemicals mixed with acrylic paint. Once these are dry, worms from a
compost bucket are gathered washed in warm water, and placed in diluted non-toxic food
coloring. They are then put on the paper and their movements are video recorded. As they move they leave color traces of their path. Their avoidance of the toxic chemical area is also visible. After they move off the paper they are washed and returned to the compost bin unharmed. The results may appear as abstract paintings to an uninformed viewer. This project is ongoing as I integrate different symbols and signs.
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