“My latest work, ceramic sculptures featuring creatures with anomalies like multiple heads or extra eyes, on potted house plants, delves into the contrasts between untamed nature and the controlled, modified, and often 'cute-ified' versions that we bring into our indoor spaces.”

As natural space becomes more scarce and compromised by environmental degradation, our homes become sanctuaries where we attempt to preserve a connection to the wild. Our choices in art, in the animals we share our lives with, and the greenery we grow become acts of both reverence and control, as we shape our interior environments to reflect our aesthetics and aspirations. 

In our daily lives we curate our surroundings to resonate with our inherent love for the natural world. The living creatures and objects we add become extensions of ourselves and reflect our need to be connected with nature. Yet, as we bring these pieces of the outside world into our interiors, they are inevitably changed. Wild becomes tame, nature’s plants are confined to pots and animals evolve into pets, their forms altered from the effects of poisonous environments or genetic tampering. This negotiation between our longing for nature and the realities of the earth’s shrinking and increasingly toxic natural spaces and our own impact on them defines our contemporary habitats. We are at once building spaces that nurture our need for connection and being confronted with the truth of our impact on the natural world and its inhabitants.

Bethany Krull is a sculptor based in Buffalo, New York making objects and installations rooted in the complicated relationships that exist between humans, other animals and the environment.