Matt Robertson - Entology (2018)

“I love the idea that not so very long ago, the idea that a species could become extinct at all was laughed at. In the 17th century, fossils were believed to be from mythical creatures like dragons. In 1796, George Cuvier presented the idea that a species could have existed and now no longer existed, and he was laughed at by scientists. Darwin then suggested that evolution did not need catastrophic events to explain extinction - more that it was due to perpetual competition in an overcrowded world.

I'm adopting the word "Entology" to be an awareness of our current period of geological time being an extinction period, where an extinction period is defined as a time when a significant proportion of species die in a geologically insignificant amount of time. I was trying to imagine the obvious desolate spaces of a post apocalyptic world, but also the slightly more opaque vision of the fact that so many things are becoming extinct around us without us noticing, or even being aware of their existence in the first place.

The idea is of desolation but, because of the awareness, also of hope."
- Matt Robertson