Sometimes people ask me what my work is about and my gut reaction is, “I have no idea!” Depending on the piece, there is more or less tension between myself the creator and the piece as the creation. Terraform Necromancy is one of those pieces that continues to resist giving up its meaning to me so easily and this creates a psychological tension that I enjoy.
What I can say about this painting is that it began with a fascinating story I read about craters that suddenly appear in the Earth but without an impact event. Earth trauma and Earth processes are underlying themes in most of my work, and while painting Terraform Necromancy I wanted to juxtapose a feeling of innocence against a crater-like landscape. How do we heal planetary trauma? My heart is unsettled by the idea of terraforming other planets when we should focus on healing our own. It seems extractive, and an extension of rape culture, to consider terraforming Mars so that we can mine Martian resources to further human insemination of space. There must be accountability for our actions, a cosmic ethics. Bringing life to Mars is much like necromancy, Mars would be undead, which leads me to the title of this painting.
