Guarding the Forest

The inspiration comes from the designer’s concern for SDG 15: Life on Land. Amid an urban landscape filled with buildings, she suddenly realized that the disappearance of forests means the loss of more than trees; it is the collapse of an entire chain of life. When the gaze passes beyond reinforced concrete, the distance between modern civilization and nature becomes shockingly vast. The artwork, therefore, serves as a silent reminder, asking viewers again: “What have humans taken away?” The contrast between white animals and a blackened city symbolizes traces of life gradually fading away.
The most compelling aspect of Guarding the Forest is its use of only black and white to outline the fragile, tension-filled connection between civilization and nature. The deer, fox, and rabbit in the foreground are rendered through negative space. The wisdom of the deer, the agility of the fox, the purity of the rabbit, reduced to disappearing contours. The white signifies an impending emptiness, reminding us that humans are taking away their habitat.
The background city is built with dense layers of black, as if slowly devouring the forest. The light seeping through the windows appears cold and piercing, suggesting that the height of civilization does not necessarily equate to warmth.
The textures of the forest are intricately drawn with fineliners. Lines resembling mist, vapor, and air currents give the natural environment a fragile sense of breath. The scattered black droplets symbolize pollution, few in number, yet striking, like shadows of civilization slowly seeping into the ecosystem.
The deepest highlight of the work lies in how the viewer must interpret the contrast between “white that continues to fade” and “black that continues to expand,” realizing that life and the city are not in opposition but require a recalibrated dialogue of coexistence.