Minka Holtrop's "Kingdom Animalia"

"My work 'Kingdom Animalia' addresses species extinction and the diminishing of biodiversity. I think that our impact as humans on the environment surrounding us is important to document, so I did just that by taking the negative space of leaves that I found in my yard and filling their surroundings with all the animals I could think of. The negative space of the leaves represents the hole that these lost species will leave in the world when they're gone. There is not only a loss of beauty with declining biodiversity. we rely on biodiversity in so many ways, that I don't think we have even found them all out yet. Biodiversity and complex ecosystems account for the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the purification of the water we drink. Our impact on the environment, and the climate, is creating huge problems for the animals that could well have trived if we had been more careful. I have a personal connection to this as part of the future generation. Not only would I like to survive, but I want to thrive, and live in a world that is still beautiful. I want to swim in coral reefs and look up at towering trees and not think ""this will all soon be gone."""

·       Materials Used: I used sharpie pen on printmaking paper.