Amazonia - Bone variation

Studio Orta - 5510_a.jpg
Studio Orta - 5510_b.jpg
Studio Orta - 5510_c.jpg
Studio Orta - 5510_d.jpg

Date: 2010
Ref: 5510
Materials: Cast aluminium, metallised paint, certificate of Moral Ownership
Dimensions: Approx. 250 x 70 x 70cm
Exhibition history: 2010 Natural History Museum London
Courtesy: Lucy + Jorge Orta

The larger-than-life aluminium sculptures are modelled on fossilised dinosaur bones from the Natural History Museum’s paleontology 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.