Artwork
Amazonia - Bone variation
Lucy + Jorge Orta, 2010
- Ref: 5510
- Materials: Cast aluminium, metallised paint
- Dimensions: Approx. 250 x 70 x 70cm
- Exhibition history: 2010 Natural History Museum London
- Concept: The larger-than-life aluminium sculptures are modelled on fossilised dinosaur bones from the Natural History Museum’s palaeontology collection. Despite the colourful, iridescent finish, they remain relics of death, a reminder of the many forms of life that have been shaped through evolution, giving us a tangible sense of the contemporary and of times past.
There has been life on Earth for 3.5 billion years, since the first living organisms are estimated to have emerged. Since then there have been five mass extinctions, which caused changes
on Earth. Extinctions are a natural part of life, but the current rate of loss is about 100 to 1,000 times what it should be. This decline in plants, insects, birds, amphibians, sea-life and other living organisms has become known as the sixth mass extinction, and has one distinguishing characteristic: it is caused by humans.
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