I was deeply inspired by the octopus, as an element that I could use as a vehicle to explore the abuse of humans over animals and the complexity of nature. Through my work I portray firstly the beauty and complexity of the Octopus as an animal, in order to make the viewer see the Octopus as more than just an animal and respect it as a living creature. Secondly, I explore the over exploitation of the Octopus for frivolous reasons. Thirdly, I portray the unison between man and nature to accentuate the feeling of respect for the Octopus.

The experience of thoroughly researching Octopuses biology and behaviour have inspired my work. The metamorphosing abilities of the octopus inspired ‘Ceviche de Pulpo’ and ‘Luxury Octopus’. It’s smooth and continuous movements inspired ‘The Movement of the Octopus’. ‘Octopus eyes’ was inspired by the Octopuses complex cephalopod eye. Whereas my photography pieces entitled ‘Octopus Cocktail’ were inspired by experiencing the exploitation of animals for banal reasons like luxury. My portraits: ‘La Virgencita del Pulpo’, ‘Scary Victoria’ and ‘Octo Victoria is Annoyed’ were inspired by the idea of juxtaposing ridiculousness with seriousness to portray a feeling of unison. Finally ‘Octopus Passion’ was inspired by mating behaviours in Octopuses and how they can oddly relate to human behaviour.

To explore the idea of metamorphosis and camouflage I chose Acrylic as my media because it allowed me to create different textures according to the meaning of the artwork. In ‘luxury Octopus’ I created a very smooth texture to portray an ‘art deco’ style that would highlight the abuse of the octopus as a luxury item. Whereas in ‘Ceviche de Pulpo’ I created a rough bumpy texture to demonstrate the versatility and complexity of the Octopus' skin.

To continue with the idea of metamorphosis I chose marker as my media in ‘The movement of the Octopus’ as it was a simple medium that allowed me to create an optical illusion. Here I was inspired by Victor Vasarelies optical illusions and portrayals of animals in abstract forms.

In ‘Octopus eyes’ I chose collage as my media because it allowed me to fuze man made elements and natural elements to portray the idea of unison between man and nature. Here I used dried flowers as my natural element and hydro dipped eyes as my man made element. I also utilized the flowers as a symbol for the beauty of nature, and the abstract patterns of the Octopus eyes I thought effectively portrayed the beauty and complexity of them.

I wanted to keep exploring this connection in a different media, so I chose photography. I was inspired by Hendrick Kerstens, Paula portraits that showed a woman in a classic renaissance pose with random objects in her head. I used this idea for ‘La Virgencita del Pulpo’ ‘Scary Victoria’ and ‘Victoria annoyed at the Octopus'' each portray different feelings but all demonstrate a unity between humans and animals.

I chose to display my work in a chronological manner. The exhibition starts with my most abstract piece which is ‘The movement of the Octopus’ which demonstrates the beauty of the Octopuses behavioural movement. After that, I am still focusing on the biology of the Octopus in ‘Ceviche de Pulpo’ and ‘Luxury Octopus. Then we have ‘Octopus eyes’, that not only portrays the beauty of the Octopus, but also the unison between man and nature. I follow up on the idea in the Octopus portraits, which are done with photography, which are contrasted by ‘Octopus Cocktail’ which expresses the other side of the relationship between man and nature which is the abuse of humans over animals and nature. Because all of my pictures are in black and white I decided to finish with ‘Octopus Passion’, a drawing, also in black and white to summarize the idea of the complexity of Octopus behaviour and the idea of unison. As the viewer sees my work in order, I hope to firstly demonstrate the beauty and intricacies of the Octopus. Later, I want to show a possible symbiosis between man and nature and finally to demonstrate our perpetual abuse of it. Hopefully to make the viewer respect not only the Octopus but nature as a whole.