Upon Refraction
Rebecca Petro
Climate change, shifts in the tectonic plates and other environmental events are slowly revealing to us that our world is in a transformative state, and it is changing at a pace we can no longer ignore. Upon Refraction asks viewers to question their relationship to this changing world. Viewers are confronted with a sculptural piece that encompasses the corner of a room and is constructed out of layered mirror fragments. Viewers are able to peer into the mirror base to see themselves within the work as well as witness the refraction of an organic form. Together these elements combine to create a synthetic representation of a landscape.
We are inspired by it, yet we destroy it. It continually gives, and we continuously take. We create synthetic environments, only to replace natural ones. We are endlessly separating ourselves from it, but remain forever connected to it.
Upon Refraction, is my attempt to illustrate this complex relationship we have with the earth. In an effort to highlight our simultaneous connection to and detachment from the natural world, I have invited viewers to see themselves within a landscape. Forced to look down upon themselves, each viewer's image is a mere fragment within a larger context. Upon Refraction, asserts that we are not moving through a passive landscape, and that if we remain still enough we can see it change before our very own eyes—a transformation that calls for our own shift in consciousness.