Reshaping Realities

Laura Mayer, MDes Illustration

As countries development and welfare are being evaluated with only one indicator – the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The only way for a company to be successful and rewarded is following one goal – Profit. The purpose of the economy to serve people‘s welfare is being overshadowed by growth. The chase after this has in fact helped society to overcome many challenges but it has also resulted in the climate crisis, the largest gap between rich and poor that ever existed, and other impasses; and is now more than obsolete. Redefining success and specifying indicators that reflect the real welfare of our system is crucial for shifting the economy away from the chase that fuels the climate crisis and is not serving a long-term vision. That requires zooming out, turning around, and internalising that, where now is only one way, there lie many other and better possibilities.
“Don’t Forget, There’s More” aims to create a sense of these turnarounds, using metaphors in order to help the growth of attachment towards the greatness of change and possibilities.

“Reshaping Realities” also addresses the need for different goals in our economic system. Getting there requires rethinking the entire system and shifting perspectives away from the known and towards imagination. It investigates those possibilities by modifying ordinary objects into a new purpose and meaning.

I consider it my way of contributing to trying to tackle the climate crisis, by acting as a communicator and advocate for the greatness of change and alternatives that lie ahead of us. As an Illustrator, I want to utilise the ability of art to tap into people’s emotions and reach their guts – to influence a decision-making process and to motivate people to fight apathy and to find perspective. What I personally like so much about art, as a tool, is that it can easily be used to show a way of growing out of, instead of fighting against, whatever has to be changed. This follows the principle that whatever you give your attention to will expand. It is the perfect possibility to generate a new reality by feeding people‘s imagination – making something that might be yet invisible visible. “Homo sapiens rules the world because it is the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in its own imagination, such as gods, states, money, and human rights.”, says Noah Yuval Harari in his book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”; hence, all systems on our planet earth (except for the ecosystem) once were just ideas in someone‘s mind who then acted upon them, convinced others of the ideas‘ strength, and therefore created a new reality. With all of my projects, I aim to contribute to creating such a new reality; one that is not based on exploiting people and planet, but one that is built on social, sustainable, and equitable values.

If this made you curious about more: Chrysopoeia is my recently launched caboodle of work where I will showcase all of my future projects.

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