stored tomorrow

25 x 20 cm
Acrylic, conte crayon, pencil & ballpoint pen on photograph
 
Stored Tomorrow: Future proofing species:
At some point in humankinds history  it was decided that something had to be done to try and preserve some, if not all of the huge variety of the species of animals.(unsure whether the plants were included in this thought. There is however an ongoing “seed bank” project. Trying to save the animal species that existed on the Earth at the time. How could this be done? Cryogenics? Easier to freeze D.N.A. the genes and genomes of the selected species. A modern day Ark project. How profound and ironic. Humans pretending to be God again. Choosing what lives and what dies, who put us in charge? The original Ark was apparently to save the innocent and true. The Earth was be cleansed of the wicked, they were to be washed away in a great flood.
Of course only present day species can be saved/ frozen. It is already too late for extinct species, most of which have already been destroyed by the hands of humans. We have already laid waste to the infinite variety of fauna and flora that use to abound the Earth before humankinds significant presence.
Did the idea of freezing (safeguarding) animal and plant D.N.A. come before or after the realisation that human sperm could be frozen and reused as it were at a later date to create offspring from the past? Was preserving the natural world an afterthought with little knowledge of the delicate and precious ecology that link all life forms in existence and also those of the future? We strive to save the world, closing the stable door when more than a horse has gone. 
The genetic future refrigerators are reliant on the technology infrastructure to keep them all safe. That is until the electricity supply fails, as one day it must. The “just in case” project fails, the “its ok we have a spare” will no longer be something that can be believed. We try and predict the future but it is what happens now that shapes these visions. Action must be taken now, as things cannot and will not be saved tomorrow.