Between the tracks, Weybridge Station
Kurt Jackson (2019)
Monoprint and mixed media on train tickets, 40cm x 38 cm
Specimens
Magpie, Pica pica
Kurt Jackson Q&A
Biodiversity explores landscapes across Britain. How did you choose which to paint?
"A project like this, it can never be concise, encyclopaedic, that's impossible. I narrowed it down for a start to just the UK because I had to find some way of making it smaller and potentially achievable. I think I initially thought of the major ecosystems/habitats that are found in our country, whether it's ancient woodland, flower-rich meadows, saltmarsh, urban areas, etc. etc. Although that is pretty immense, you can bring that down to a dozen or two dozen importantly recognised habitats. So, I think I wanted to at least tackle those with examples. But as you can see in this project I've approached it in different ways. So, I've given myself time to make work within a particular location, and then almost documented the life that I've found, or I knew was to be found, in that place – by making a piece of art there and trying to bring the life within it. Sometimes it's visual, sometimes it's within text. And then there's the other side where I've chosen groups of organisms, whether it's a group of closely related moths, or a group of fish, that are found in one place or one time, and then brought them together onto the page or canvas, as it were. So – different ways of trying to do it."
