Diane Farris

When I first moved to Florida, a Publix cashier commented on the bags I brought to the market: “Oh, there’s a French lady who brings bags, too.” Though there are more bag bearers now, it is heartening to discover the attuned community that is What’s Next for Earth.

My current work explores the resonance and – sometimes – the beauty of the nearby, the local. Local Light is part of that series, a luminous moment of billowing light that had to be witnessed before it was gone. The Think Resilience course with Richard Heinberg is a clear roadway through the current state of our environment and offers not only witness, but data, insights and action plans that will make a difference. What’s Next for Earth invites artists to participate in that change. I am grateful.

Diane’s website: dianefarris.com

When Enough Feels Like Abundance

Meeting Essential Community Needs brings to mind a time after college when I spent a few weeks in a small Italian hill town where the” food, water, energy, and money” Heinberg highlights as essential community needs were respected, savored, and shared. In that town and time, the warmth of community and the celebration of seasonal resources made “enough” often feel like abundance. The town square and very local market, the lively coffee bars, windows crowded with tomatoes and herbs, the small restaurants with a half dozen tables - especially the one where I was lucky enough to help out in the kitchen - made a pattern that has inspired me since.

The Pear Basket image was made years ago, an homage to that formative time and place. In it, Signora Adele rolls out pasta with a broom handle; a table awaits company and fresh produce spills from a market basket. Enough/Lemons is a new image - with Pear Basket nearby. Lemons from our tree represent today’s resources, awaiting shared preparation and enjoyment with children, family, and friends.

The page with “enough” is from a century-old dictionary. (It occurs next to “enormous,” which is defined as “excessive.”) We continue to seek new ways into our local community, resources, and systems, and we are grateful for the rich and welcoming community of WNFE.
2023
  • Diane Farris

Weeping Fig with Book and Bags

Photograph

Richard Heinberg’s perspective on the centrality of early childhood education in building a resilient society and his examples brought to mind a local camp and the image of a classic child’s lunchbox. This summer, I prepared daily lunchboxes for a camp with strong ties to nature and to the children’s sense of well-being, both aspects of resilience education. I strove to avoid single use plastic and have a renewed appreciation of just one of the challenges parents face every school day.

In Weeping Fig with Book and Bags, a tree rises in front of paper lunch bags. The “sky” background is composed of plastic, persisting. The book illustration of trees in the foreground references the lively study of natural systems. The embrace of recent books on forest systems by scientist/scholars like Robin Wall Kimmerer and Suzanne Simard is encouraging, as is the community gathering around What’s Next for Earth.
2023
  • Diane Farris

Even

Photograph

Richard Heinberg’s summary sentence “Resilience and sustainability require justice” brought to mind an image of the classic scales of justice and WNFE’s current call. I found and began sketching my father’s old balance scale. As my first solutions (to many situations) often revolve around gathering, gardening, cooking and coming together around a welcoming table, food was a natural for the balance. And ,sculptural pears were on hand. Heinberg writes of “expanding the commons”, evoking a town square, village green, a farmer’s market, all images of gathering to share resources for the common good, the traditional “common weal”. The somewhat enigmatic “Even” appeared as a title early in the process, but Roget’s Thesaurus offered meanings that fit: “level, unbroken, on a par, proportionate, just…”.
2023
  • Diane Farris

Local Light

Photograph

April 2023

Local Light is part of an ongoing series of images on light, reflections and shadows. Working close to home in the past few years, I have been taken by the wisdom, sustenance and – often – the unexpected beauty of the close at hand, the local.

This photograph was taken recently, when a burst of unexpected light emanated from a familiar corner. What’s Next for Earth’s current call, Economic Relocalization, emphasizes attention to every possibility in nearby resources, “local economies with deep and ancient roots” (Richard Heinberg, excerpt from the Think Resilience course).
2023
  • Diane Farris

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