Trees and Other Lives - Roger Steele

Roger's initial art training took place in Canada, comprised of 3 years at the Kootenay School of
Art, British Columbia, and a further 2 years of Post Graduate Study, at the Banff Centre,
Alberta. That was now longer ago than he cares to remember!

The majority of work in this exhibition was created during the past 10 years. Much, but not
all, is landscape and most of it is concerned with aspects of the various climate changes that
we all now face.

Roger explains:
Landscape can be deceiving. Both an actual environment and a painted representative of the
scene can conceal a great deal. It is often not apparent how polluted an area, or by
implication, its representation is. For instance, how much weight of plastic lays on, under or
floats in it. What chemicals have been absorbed into its soils and waterways. And clear-cut
forests or woodlands, well they are seldom the subject matter of choice for landscape
artists.

We spread and our cities spread eating away at the green margins. Ever increasingly plastic
spreads too, polluting land and water and eventually entering the food chain for man and
other animals. Now micro plastics are being found in human placentas, breast milk and
blood. Some species of sea birds and whales die with full stomachs, full with our waste
plastic.

Despite all of this, plants still manage to bloom and their flowers still exchange gifts with
their pollinators. And many people remain delighted and astonished at the beauty and
immense complexity of the natural world that sustains all life on our planet. And those
people are protective towards the earth, aiming to make a difference before it is too late.
But our politicians, our multinational corporations and our heads of industry what are they
protecting?