Approved: 15.01.2021

Carol Sharp

Artist, Teacher, Writer

Approved: 15.01.2021

Despite plants being the dominant species on the planet (99.5% of the total mass), and our total dependence on them for life, most humans have what has been coined 'plant blindness'. We see them as just a backdrop of green stuff and inanimate beings.

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Artist Statement

Despite plants being the dominant species on the planet (99.5% of the total mass), and our total dependence on them for life, most humans have what has been coined 'plant blindness'. We see them as just a backdrop of green stuff and inanimate beings.

Over the last 25 years I have become deeply connected with the plant world; while influencing their lives for my own ends in my garden and my studio, I have been at the same time studying the extraordinary secret life of plants. I now practise Deep Ecology and give these wise beings agency, rather than seeing them as instruments for human needs.

This has influenced my approach to creating an image, I use different types of perception to not only see their form, but to understand the meaning of the form and to reveal what Goethe called their ‘gesture’, which means having a communion with them and a desire to feel their very life force.

As well as depicting plants in this intimate way in their natural environment, I also work in collage, using natural forms as metaphor to explore concepts and illustrate the patterns and connections between the cycles and processes in nature and our own, bringing scientific, philosophical and spiritual information together.

I'm particularly interested in connectivity. The material world is not a collection of separate objects, but is a network of relations between the various parts of a unified whole. Quantum physics tells us there is no objectivity and we are inextricably intertwined with everything that we experience.

As more evidence unfolds about plants ability to connect with each other and with the wider world, I question our relationship with plants and our perception of nature as a whole.

CV & Education

Carol Sharp CV

Education

1977 St Albans Art College, UK Foundation year

1980 Brighton University UK, BA Hons 1st class Visual communication

Selected Solo shows & Installations

2007 - ‘Through the Lens’. Chelsea Flower show, London, UK

2010 - ‘Paradigm Shifts’,Eleven Spitalfields Gallery, London, UK

2018 - Installation of billboard & music from plant vibrations, Phytology, London, UK

Selected Groupshows

2008 - Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, South Bank, London, UK

2013 -‘Gaia’ 1066 gallery, Battle, Sussex, UK

2015 - Stories of Reflection, Printspace gallery, London, UK

2016 - Retina festival, Edinburgh, UK

2017 - ‘Art takes Manhattan’ Caelum gallery, New York, USA

2017 – Julia Margaret Cameron photography awards, Galeria validfoto, Barcelona, Spain

2019 - Photofusion Salon, Photofusion gallery, London, UK

Selected Awards

2006 - GPA International Garden Photographer of the Year, London UK. Finalist

2008 - Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, London UK. Semi-finalist

2014 - Association of Photographers Awards, London UK. Winner Non-commissioned Object

2017 – Julia Margaret Cameron awards, International, Winner Nature

2019 - Moscow International Awards. Silver, Science/Environment

2020 - Pollux Awards, International, Winner Nature

Selected press/publications

2001 – Books, ‘From Bud to Seed’ series of 2. UK

2002 - Feature on Xmas stamps Evening Standard, UK

2004– Feature, Norfolk Life magazine, UK

2016 – Profile Feature, Digital photography magazine, Germany

2019 - Interview : Artist of the Month - Art.Earth online