In the traditional sense of the words, Losing Ground is described as a status of diminishment. The loss of what one might formerly have “had.” It denotes the not always enviable situation of reduction in area governed, decreased mental status or capacity, territory commanded through war or other means. It may also indicate a status of un-willful surrender of a thing or status once regarded as valuable or desirable.

 

For the past many decades, the quality of human life has vacillated with some areas of growth (particularly on the scientific front), but has also been challenged in its wholeness through biological jeopardy, increasing political divisiveness, and the forfeiture of truth based on empirical evidence as the foundation for societal mores in favor of special interest opinions among other alterations. The works in this series center on ideas of loss. Loss of sustainable environmental ecosystems. Loss of wholesome production of foods. Loss of health through human systems of exploitation of the earth. Loss of reason and truth as a basis for interaction within human culture. Loss of the basic ideas of human kindness that bound together people of disparate beliefs, traditions, and perspectives in the great American experiment. It is a lamentation in the face of an uncertain future that is a concoction of human origin and perpetuation.

 

It draws little attention today that those things upon which we depend for survival seem increasingly at risk. Certain political/societal currents are exerting reverses to major environmental protections that have been greatly reduced or eradicated. Quality of air, water, and soil have all come under attack. The impact of “alternate truth” promoted in some factions disables any reasonable discussion of even the current state of our biosphere. Global warming, once treated as an outright hoax by some, is now accepted with the disclaimer that humans have had no influence upon its appearance or progression. As a people, we seem unaware or unwilling to even consider the implications this misguided opinion has for us or our posterity.

 

The ravaging effects of a global pandemic which has already left millions of dead in its wake continues on to this day. The Covid-19 variant viruses bring with each new wave an accompanying wave of political posturing as to its veracity while spawning vicious partisan blaming. Wrapped in non-sequitur arguments, the world populations are torn this way and that with the only sure impact as divided beliefs, fear, uncertainty as to what is real and true. The emotional and psychological impact of this divisiveness is surely felt in the individual as well as the illness of the society that it threatens. This upheaval of personal peace is further exacerbated by an imperialist war in Europe with repeated threats of a nuclear holocaust.To be sure, we are losing much individually and collectively as a human species, and some fear this portends an apocalyptic end to humans. This body of work attempts to record and raise awareness of some of these losses in a way that is aesthetically satisfying while poetically decrying our status and trajectory. It is hoped that more awareness, and public participation will be able to slow and even reverse the scope and nature of the losses to humanity and our natural world.

 

In the Losing Ground exhibition was presented through the month of February 2023 in the Art & Design Gallery at Utah Valley University. Nancy Steele-Makasci and Marcus Vincent have blended their works in a somewhat unlikely juxtaposition, each addressing the topic from their unique vantage point, but with a unified purpose. Though the images may be engaging at first for their formal properties, they are subtle in exploring the dislocations in human well-beings as their main concern. Whether it is the toxic waste spills of mining overflow or air pollution the anguished cry of the loss of purity in our landscapes and in our lives resonates in each of the works. Vincent’s work posits abstractions drawn from many experiences and sources to investigate loss of life through war, disease and aggression, as well as loss of sanity and reason in the currents and eddies of a civilization in turmoil.