30x40 in. Simon Carruthers Untitled (Pallets)

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About 30x40 In. Simon Carruthers Untitled

Consumption has moved from a means towards an ends - living - to being an end in its own right." -Yiannis Gabriel, 1995 "Mass production decreases our emotional attachment to our possessions, making them easier to discard." - Howies, 2007 Every item we own has an origin. Everything that surrounds us in our homes, in our workplace, and throughout our modern metropolis, has been extracted from the natural world. The man-made world is a world that has been wholly created from the raw materials found on, and just beneath the earth's surface. As it is true that all these items have an origin, it is also true that the components of the synthetic world have a destiny - a final resting place - for when we no longer require them. Their presence in our company is often fleeting. Once it has been decided that they are no longer wanted or needed, manufactured goods are returned to the earth, as waste. Cycles is an ongoing UK based project that looks at the methods and the results of an accelerated climate of consumerism. The images tend to fall into one of two categories; the infrastructure supporting the consumption of domestic goods, and the net results of our consumption. The series was inspired by a sustainability report published in 2006 concluding that in the UK we use over three times our share of global resources. Through my photography I explore issues concerning mans impact upon the land, both individually and collectively, and the decisions and actions undertaken in the name ofprogress.  Motivated by our increasingly globalised society and the implications this has on urban and rural landscapes, as well as on the individual, my work sets out to document the consequences of increased homogenisation and to investigate the nature/culture conflict.