I use symbolism and illustrative fantasy to exhibit contradictions between utopia, dystopia and immediate reality.

In the past, as my own means of exploring scenery and image making without the human subject, I have explored the mathematical logic of nature through deep sea creatures, extracting poetry from their latin classifications and abstract-psychedelic forms. 

Through this characterization I have constructed villages of archetypal characters; some aerial, some figurative and some deep sea. Each body of work I see as its own fiction series, occurring within the same landscape and documenting different encounters with some of the same characters. Each having a latin name and descriptions that construct an absurd, beautiful and humorous body. This is the element of my work I often refer to as science fiction, taking elements of scientific classification and research and appropriating it as a means of creating fantastical, animated material. 
I admire the framework of science fiction because it has the power to retell the story of the present moment, and by swapping out actual figures with fictional characters, make the experience visceral and universal once more. 

In relation to this kind of story telling, I am interested in the theme of macroscopic and microscopic visualization. This has been most literally expressed in my depiction of mountains and sea creatures. However I think its parallel exists in the depiction of a landscape (group scene, phenomena of many parts from afar) vs a portrait (world of the individual and spotlight). 

-marielle morley