Communication Attempt #12 (Moon and Stone)
Oil on Panel and found rock/asphalt conglomerate
5" x 5"
When I walk in nature, I explore the insides of things: the furtive organisms found under rocks, the fungi living between tree roots, and the bright patterns of insect eggs within a rotting branch. I’m fascinated by interior stories: the vein of history in a rock that describes an ancient disturbance, or an irregular tree ring that indicates solar activity or human impact.
This work is from a series of “communication attempts.” Relationship between paintings, between objects, and between the work and the viewer are inspired by interspecies communication, relationships between living and non-living things, and a desire to mitigate ecological and human loneliness. How fully can we understand a cloud, a tree, or a rock? Can we develop a vocabulary that enables us to do that? What does our desire to engage with the non-human tell us about ourselves? My central goal as an artist is to discover alternative, more empathic ways of interacting with nature and with each other.
Ashely Eliza Williams is a painter, a sculptor, and an amateur ecologist, driven by a deep sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world, especially landscapes that feel tentative, vulnerable, and in need of attention.