Natalie Taylor

Natalie Taylor

My childhood fascination with Nature has shaped my career as an environmental and landscape artist, focusing on ecological relationships and food webs. I'm especially interested in our connection to the provenance of food, as it mirrors both our own health and the wellbeing of the ecosystems that sustain us.

Recent research at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, including microscopy work and a collaboration with academics, inspired Living Soil, a 2023 exhibition that centred on soil and in which I showcased small paintings created from pigments ground from soil samples in the National Soils Archive. These works highlighted the symbiosis between our gut microbiomes and soil microbiomes, both vital for nutrient digestion and the transformation of energy from one form into another, and both highly sensitive to toxins.

One of a series of large-scale paintings, 'Alchemy of Soil', visualises the diverse life forms within healthy soil, from bacteria and mycelia to springtails and snails. These rich ecosystems - which comprise about 60% of all life on Earth - play crucial roles in cycling nutrients essential for human health.

During 2021's COP26, along with fifty other people, I crafted a wearable sculpture titled 'Keepers of the Soil'. Hand stitched with the same biodiverse imagery, this piece then accompanied over a hundred people on a walk of 100+ miles from Dunbar to Glasgow.

I feel incredibly privileged to create art that honours and celebrates this precious life on our planet.

www.natalietaylorartist.co.uk

Instagram: @natalietaylorartist

Natalie's work `Alchemy of Soil' features in the January/February 2025 issue of Resurgence & Ecologist.