Maria LEGAT, 2019 Schwund II oder Und zur Lage der Welt XLVIII Schwund II oder Und zur Lage der Welt XLVIII

Since 2014, artist Maria Legat has been working on a series of works entitled “Und zur Lage der Welt” (“And on the State of the World”), against the backdrop of our daily bombardment with news from all corners of the globe that leads us to reflect. In her work “Schwund II” (Loss II), Legat references the devastating 2019 forest fires in Australia, when the country was in a state of emergency for months. Over a billion animals perished in the flames and those that survived lost their habitat forever. The enormous ecological, health, cultural, and economic damage continues to have far-reaching consequences to this day. With her work, the artist appeals to a society that seems to be growing increasingly numb and turning a blind eye to global catastrophes.  Loss of forested areas is not only problematic because of forest fires, but also due to the absolutely unbelievable extent of land sealing. Legat follows the arguments a step further in her work and addresses topics such as displacement, which is one of the many consequences when habitats change dramatically and become uninhabitable. This also raises the question of who has the freedom and opportunity to leave unsafe regions of the world or live in areas that are not at risk. Maria Legat engages with these complex issues in her oeuvre, persistently taking a stand on the state of the world. In a very specific vein, deploying an extraordinary formal language, her paintings introduce us to a world that urgently needs the general public to take action.