Artist’s Statement
Lucie Ciccone
As a student taking Applied Ecology in fall 2022, one of the central recurrent themes commented on by my fellow students was that of interconnectedness. Ecology is the study of the interdependencies and living systems that make up our world. Applied Ecology recognizes humans as within these systems, and illuminates how human actions and wellbeing are inherently linked to the processes of the so-called “natural” world. I wanted to portray these living relationships in the piece for the cover of this textbook. After discussion with peers and Dr. McKenney I decided to do so through illustrating a landscape, one local to North Carolina and one whose richness conveys the complexity and beauty of the living world around us. The longleaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States are ones that many students in this book wrote about, drew from in class, or know personally, and in focusing on this ecosystem I hoped to draw attention to the importance of place, context and local knowledge. In viewing the piece I hope that you will consider how the passage of time is visible in the landscape, as well as what is visible, what is hidden, and what is left out.
-Lucie Ciccone
