M.V. Baks
Alter modernism - where technology meets nature
Roots
Roots – the world beneath breaking into the world above
In this collection, a myth unfolds from an altermodern universe — a parallel world shaped by different choices, yet driven by the same instincts that lead us into repeating our own mistakes.
Beneath the surface, a slow response had been forming: a whisper from Mother Nature that we ignored for too long. The roots, once subtle and supportive, have turned feral. They tear through soil, stone and society as if declaring: “You would not listen, so we will take over.”
These root structures are not mere background forms.
They behave like living entities, a collective consciousness breaking free. They pull, twist, suffocate and reclaim — yet they also heal, reorganize and restore.
Like Shiva who destroys to clear space for renewal, these roots force a necessary reset. Their chaos carries beauty, but that beauty comes with a price.
In Under the Garden, the world is seen from someone who did not survive the collapse above.
In My Right Brain Half, the roots pierce into my mind, as if they do not grow from me but drag me inward instead.
And in the Green series, everything shifts deeper into surrealism: growth becomes a force with its own logic, no longer bound to human control.
Together, these drawings form an altermodernist tale of cause and consequence —
a story about neglect, about losing control, and about nature reclaiming balance in ways we can no longer predict.
The question that remains is not how the world will transform, but whether we will learn anything from it — or not.