Mapping Meaning, the Journal (Issue No. 1)

Markers
Andrea Sherrill Evans
Woven throughout my art practice is the
aim to complicate the idea of nature and
the often didactic division between the
human and the natural world. The use of
drawing to investigate the subject of nature
recalls the picturesque landscape sketches
of the Romantic painters, but their focus on
sublime scenery with mythic proportions is
transposed onto new forms of nature that
reveal the active, and irreversible, impact of
the human hand.
The human mark on the landscape is
present both literally and figuratively
throughout the Marker series. This group
of drawings explores the human impact on
the land alongside the human desire for
a connection with nature. These brightly
colored trail blazes rupture an otherwise
seemingly untouched wilderness, clearly
marking the points where the human and
natural world collide.
In their use in natural spaces, trail
blazes designate a particular path. They
must intentionally stand out from the
surrounding environment, and require
repetition and specific placement in order
to guide one through an unknown space.
While these markers may disrupt the
notion of a true wilderness, they provide
an access point to a direct experience with
the natural world. As they lead human
movement through the landscape, keeping
one on the trail, they simultaneously protect
the surrounding ecosystems from further
destructive human impact.
As the images of these trail markers
are translated through the process of
drawing, they are removed from their
specific context. These signs are thus
decentered and disconnected from serving
their particular purpose. With the lack of
geographical specificity, these markers no
longer point us toward the trail ahead, but
rather, toward larger questions about our
role in shaping the future of a more-thanhuman
world. While these markers may be
a reminder of the crushing and irreversible
human impact on the natural world, they
may also provide a glimpse of the potential
for the touch of human hand to be one of
preservation and conservation of the forms
of nature that still remain.
88 Mapping Meaning, the Journal