Come and see Shoso's work at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2019.
27 - 31 March 2019:
Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show.
Home is where the heart is
The ongoing destruction of our environment by man-made pollution continues to push the world towards catastrophic circumstances.
In particular, the problem of plastic pollution has become ubiquitous in our oceans, with 90% of sea birds consuming some kind of plastic, and over eight million tons of new plastic rubbish finding its way into the oceans every year.
There have been a number of political, scientific and social attempts to find a way to get this problem with plastic under control, but the most effective way forward is at the personal level. If we change our habits, we can start to move towards a solution.
However, this kind of change does not happen easily. Personal transformation is a big challenge. Ikebana may help to bring about such a transformation. It teaches us to find harmony between people and nature. At its core is the belief that all living beings are united as one. When we stop objectifying nature, we can find a way to stop harming our home.
This work features ropes made of recycled plastic shopping bags. The bags have been repurposed as art, and the work aims to point to a brighter future for our home, this beautiful earth, if we can reimagine our relationship with plastic and commit in our hearts to finding alternative ways to think about plastic.
Our home depends more than at any other time in history on where our hearts are.
Shoso Shimbo, PhD
Ikebana Artist
