Abstract
The use of natural materials has been the subject matter researched on for contemporary art, looking into a new trend of artists using organic elements in independent pieces. As well as a wider set of insights into the drivers behind this shift, how artists go about it and its broader society-wide implications. Based on a qualitative methodology —combining content analysis of works, interviews with the artists and art curators; literature study—the research examines how natural materials are moving beyond ornamentation to become inseparable from artworks—frequently pointing out environmental issues.The results imply that ephemerality is a concept of relevance to many modern artists, using ephemeral natural resources and creating works which change, rot or disappear. This shift represents a larger cultural pressure to acknowledge the temporary, precarious qualities of human beingness that threaten resistant notions of high/low art or "the true and enduring." The research also explores how such work frequently relates to issues of time, environmental sustainability and human-nature relations that tend to constitute a form of ecocentric praxis.This conversation moves between the pragmatic and ethical dilemmas concerning natural materials, from attempting to make eco-friendly art and balancing that tension with practice-based logistics. The study finds that using natural materials has become a major theme in contemporary art, giving new grounds for the re-interpretation of arts and environmental cultural studies. The research also calls for investigation of the potential use of natural substrates in other cultural contexts and ethical approaches.