Artist Statement “Man is an inveterate and incorrigible meddler, never content to leave anything as he finds it, always seeking to alter and – as he sees it – to improve.” Unmanaged fragments of the natural world are all around us. How might we interpret and engage these familiar but ill-defined bastard cousins of what is conventionally labeled “nature” or “wilderness?” Is it possible to consider the unbridled ecological offspring of human intervention as wild? This everyday version of “nature” is a conglomeration of alien and native species that have managed to remain, or reinsert themselves, in the margins and untended green spaces of our human-dominated landscapes. Our self-appointed sovereignty over the non-human natural world, and our disconnection from it, have led to environmental crises of overwhelming proportions. As a response to these perceived crises, I provide opportunities for people to notice, find value in, and develop positive relationships with the fragments of wild nature we encounter in our everyday lives. Projects that employ documented observations, public interventions, and participatory models of DIY environmental programs materialize as installations in public, institutional, and conventional art-exhibition spaces, websites, and multi-media presentations. Through these activities we can learn about our effects on non-human elements of the environment, how they are evolving to respond to our overwhelming presence, and ways to shift away from problematic models of how to deal with the plants and animals that represent everyday "wild" nature. -Brian D Collier |