The back shows the same spot of rain forest after the natural equilibrium has been shattered by human exploration. Actually, I wanted to conclude this project after finishing the front side, because it already took so long and I didn't want to risk the beautiful painting by bungling the back. But the contrasting theme came so naturally to my mind and everything was so straightforward and logical, that I could not resist.
Some trees have been felled (a chain saw is still sticking in one tree in the center), another area has been burned down to provide space for agriculture. Native animals have been replaced by imported cattle to produce cheap beef for fast-food restaurants. Roads are being built by a big bulldozer that is flattening the bared soil. These roads provide access to trucks and cranes that cart away the chopped timber. As another byproduct of the heavy machinery and human settlement, the rivers and plains are spoilt by oil and waste.
One of my major sources was an article by Greenpeace™; to promote their cause and to emphasize the environmental message of the project, I made the slogan "Save the Rain Forest" the centerpiece of the back, painting it across the shoulder part of the shirt. Even the text font was chosen deliberately: It should resemble children's handwriting to convey the appeal of the younger generations to preserve this extraordinary natural ecosystem.
As with the front, I started by positioning the main three objects, i.e. the bulldozer, truck with treetrunk and cattle, once again using a stencil to control the shape of each object. Additionally, I sprayed the text through a simple stencil.
Again, I separated the blank space into one four sections: The lumberjack, the fire-cleared forest, the cattle pasture and the road-building section. This time it took me two to three days to paint each quarter (since I had become more sophisticated and added even more detail). Besides, both front and back contain my ingologo and the creation date, hidden in the painting. It's hard to imagine how excited and satisfied I've been when I finally concluded this project. Somehow, I even missed the almost daily work on this grand project.
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The images by Ingo Karkat on this page are licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
