One Hundred &
Fifty Eight Lifetimes
Slideshow/Grid
Nature seems to have a similar relationship to time as humans do. Some try to preserve what passes, fighting against time to prevent their ever-perishing creations, wearing out, weakening, and withering.
Nature has been known to keep handmade trinkets in the dirt, craftsmanship in the ocean, and bodies in the depths of swamps. Holding onto life and what might come with it.
Humans have been known to keep nurseries for plants to thrive, aid and fight for animals verging extinction, and capture moments of nature to show, share, and retell, over a period longer than the fraction of a second it existed, in its original perfect state.
Both sides attempt to immortalise each other with what power they have.
Some lose the fight to time, losing themselves and their names. Cliff faces to boulders to sand. Memories to memory loss. They are their own worst enemies when it comes to sickness, starvation, and conflict.
But they are forgiving. They mourn each other’s losses as time ticks on, regrowing and starting anew. When humans fail, nature will preserve them. When nature fails, humans may return the favour.
It’s a wonder then, that while time is feared and permanency is not guaranteed, nature and humanity continue even still to try and achieve it for each other, century after century. Through this in itself, one could ask, have they not perhaps achieved it already?
Mackenzie Allen · 2024