Frameworks of Absence: Brandon Ballengée

Soupçon Gallery

April 13, 2019 - October 27, 2019

The poignant, interdisciplinary exhibition Frameworks of Absence: Brandon Ballengée stands as both a monument to what has been lost to extinction and what may be lost if decisive action is not taken.

The Earth is occupied by an immeasurable number of living organisms. This enormous variety of living plants, animals, and microbes physically and chemically unite the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere to create one environmental system, or biosphere. Millions of species, including humans, thrive within the biosphere; each organism plays an important role. Thus, the diversity of life forms, known as biodiversity, is essential to human well-being.

Yet, biodiversity has suffered over the course of history. Many species have been lost due to natural occurrences. More recently, human activity has critically impacted biodiversity. Some species have been lost entirely due to human actions that have negatively affected the environment. When an organism or species is terminated, it is called extinction.

An artist, biologist, and environmental educator, Brandon Ballengée creates thought-provoking, transdisciplinary artworks in an effort to inform communities about the importance of environmental stewardship. He holds a Ph.D. in Transdisciplinary Art and Biology from the University of Plymouth, England, in collaboration with the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Zürich, Switzerland. He currently serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Museum of Natural Science at Louisiana State University, where he is studying the impact of the 2010 oil spill on fish species in the Gulf of Mexico.

Accompanying Ballengée’s artworks are mounted specimens on loan from the LSU Museum of Natural Science and the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum.

 

Images below courtesy of the Artist and the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York. 

 

Exhibition Made Possible in Part By

The Law Offices of R. Gray Sexton