Icarus Palm

Douglas White's industrial, carbonised palm tree, black and brooding, is a beautifully rendered maquette of its big brother, the rubber tyre-fronded Icarus Palm.

This sculpture suggests a post-apocalyptic scenario, where the beauty of nature has been reduced to a burnt-out husk. Inspiration for the work has come from the mythological tale of Icarus, whose vanity and arrogance led to his untimely demise at the hands of the burning sun. Douglas White uses this allegory to reflect upon the current ecological situation where the world's powers are perceived to be largely ignoring the effects of modern life upon the earth's delicate eco-system.

Douglas White's artistic process is to transform otherwise mundane and discarded objects into intriguing objects of real cultural value. White's work has been highly influenced by his time in Belize, where the country's rich heritage includes assigning spiritual worth to everyday objects. The materials for Icarus Palm were sourced in Belize where White often happened upon burst tyres and other detritus littering the road.