So far we have touched upon ways in which art can be created sustainably, such as by reusing old and thrown out materials. Yet some artists advocate for ways in which art can be sustainably created entirely from scratch.
One such artist is Polly Bennett, who intelligently crafts organic pigments from a wide range of different materials that she collects, such as plants, earth, and even bones. For those unfamiliar with pig!l}ents, they are, in essence, simply vibrantly coloured materials that, unlike dyes which are mainly used in clothing, are insoluble in water. Such a composition has made them brilliant for the creation of of artistic works, so much so that they are arguably what allowed visual storytellers to become artists in the first place.
For it was pigments, ground out from natural elements, from fruits to ash, that provided Stone Age people with the means to paint the walls of their caves. Nowadays however, pigments are often made from synthetics, which can often be harmful toward the environment, primarily as a result of the way in which they are created. Polly on the other hand, moves her artwork forward by taking a leaf from this neolithic past.
The ancient cave paintings were created by pigments that were formed using organic materials, such as charcoal and ochre (a rusty coloured type of earth), that were often ground down using pestle and mortar. Indeed, in what is probably the most profound case of 'if it ain t broke don't fix it', Polly, by using the same tools and organic materials, has maintained and incorporated the essence of this incredibly eco-friendly practice into her work today.
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