Dryad of Climate Departure (Winter, No Snow) 84” H x 64” W
Detail: Dryad of Climate Departure (Winter, No Snow)
Dryad of Climate Departure (Winter, No Snow)
Climate departure is the scientific threshold at which a region’s coldest year becomes warmer than its hottest historical year. Heat stress, drought, and the erasure of seasonal rhythms unravel forest ecosystems from roots to canopy. This mythological figure sits in a barren woodland infused with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, but empty of snow and wildlife, mourning the absence of winter itself.
Climate departure is the scientific threshold at which a region’s coldest year becomes warmer than its hottest historical year. Heat stress, drought, and the erasure of seasonal rhythms unravel forest ecosystems from roots to canopy. This mythological figure sits in a barren woodland infused with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, but empty of snow and wildlife, mourning the absence of winter itself.
Dryad of the King's Pines, 84" H x 84" W. Studio view, 2021
Dryad of the King's Pines, detail
Dryad of the King’s Pines
The title draws draws from colonial American history and the exploitation of old-growth forests for imperial power. In the 1750s, King George I claimed the towering Eastern White Pines (Pinus strobus) of New England for the British Royal Navy, provoking resistance that culminated in the Pine Tree Riots of 1772—an early spark of revolution. Once living more than 400 years, these trees are now grown as monoculture timber crops and harvested at roughly 30 years. The painting includes a full-scale section of a 400-year-old Eastern White Pine, contrasting deep ecological time with the accelerated cycles of industrial extraction.
The title draws draws from colonial American history and the exploitation of old-growth forests for imperial power. In the 1750s, King George I claimed the towering Eastern White Pines (Pinus strobus) of New England for the British Royal Navy, provoking resistance that culminated in the Pine Tree Riots of 1772—an early spark of revolution. Once living more than 400 years, these trees are now grown as monoculture timber crops and harvested at roughly 30 years. The painting includes a full-scale section of a 400-year-old Eastern White Pine, contrasting deep ecological time with the accelerated cycles of industrial extraction.
Requiem, Dryads of the Anthropocene. 84” H x 84” W
Detail: Requiem, Dryads of the Anthropocene.
Requiem, Dryads of the Anthropocene
A trio of dryads stands vigil in a sparse second-growth woodland, engulfed in the molecular diagrams of greenhouse gases. Traditionally believed to perish alongside their trees, these spirits embody ecological grief for compromised ecosystems degraded by deforestation, wildfires, drought, storm damage, pollution, and human encroachment.
A trio of dryads stands vigil in a sparse second-growth woodland, engulfed in the molecular diagrams of greenhouse gases. Traditionally believed to perish alongside their trees, these spirits embody ecological grief for compromised ecosystems degraded by deforestation, wildfires, drought, storm damage, pollution, and human encroachment.
Dryad of Post-Industrial Collapse (New England) 63” H x 84” W
Dryad of Post-Industrial Collapse (New England) detail
Dryad of Post-Industrial Collapse (New England)
The collapsed posture of this grieving dryad mirrors the fall of regional manufacturing economies whose history of deforestation and industrial output contributed to escalating fossil fuel emissions. The spectre of polluted mill towns, abandoned infrastructure, and cycles of poverty haunt the blighted landscape. The painting binds environmental degradation to social consequence, revealing the climate crisis as inseparable from histories of labor, industry, and abandonment.
The collapsed posture of this grieving dryad mirrors the fall of regional manufacturing economies whose history of deforestation and industrial output contributed to escalating fossil fuel emissions. The spectre of polluted mill towns, abandoned infrastructure, and cycles of poverty haunt the blighted landscape. The painting binds environmental degradation to social consequence, revealing the climate crisis as inseparable from histories of labor, industry, and abandonment.
Dryads of the Anthropocene (Daughters of the American Revolution) 81"H x 72"W
Detail: Dryads of the Anthropocene,(Daughters of the American Revolution)
Detail: Dryads of the Anthropocene,(Daughters of the American Revolution)
Dryads of the New World (Daughters of the American Revolution)
Ancestral figures reappear as dryads, drifting through pastures bordered by colonial stone walls constructed during the clearing of old-growth forests. Their translucent skin and visible bones evoke both inheritance and erasure. The work reflects on European settlement in the Americas, the displacement of Indigenous cultures whose land stewardship practices left lighter ecological footprints, and the enduring environmental transformations set in motion during colonization. Past and present converge as these dryads float through woodlands shaped by centuries of extraction and enclosure.
Ancestral figures reappear as dryads, drifting through pastures bordered by colonial stone walls constructed during the clearing of old-growth forests. Their translucent skin and visible bones evoke both inheritance and erasure. The work reflects on European settlement in the Americas, the displacement of Indigenous cultures whose land stewardship practices left lighter ecological footprints, and the enduring environmental transformations set in motion during colonization. Past and present converge as these dryads float through woodlands shaped by centuries of extraction and enclosure.
Dryad of the Late Holocene Extinction, 36"W x 24"H
Dryad of the Late Holocene Extinction
Habitat loss constitutes the largest driver of the global biodiversity crisis. This forest appears geometrically fractured, mirroring a global economic system predicated on habitat destruction, fragmentation, and the over-exploitation of natural resources. A kneeling dryad in a gesture of mourning grasps a young, spindly tree within an ecosystem stripped of plants, animals, and insects, an intimate act of hope in a systemically dismantled world.
Habitat loss constitutes the largest driver of the global biodiversity crisis. This forest appears geometrically fractured, mirroring a global economic system predicated on habitat destruction, fragmentation, and the over-exploitation of natural resources. A kneeling dryad in a gesture of mourning grasps a young, spindly tree within an ecosystem stripped of plants, animals, and insects, an intimate act of hope in a systemically dismantled world.
Dryads of the Anthropocene is Suzette Marie Martin’s first painting series that engaged with environmental themes, evolving in content, scale, and style from 2018-2020.
In this series, Martin reimagines the ancient tree spirits of Greek mythology as silent witnesses to environmental decline, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Her figures, embodiments of ecological grief, are rooted in woodlands they can neither bless nor protect. Molecular symbols of greenhouse gases, suspended within human-altered landscapes, act as visual markers of the invisible forces driving global atmospheric warming and the climate crisis.
In this series, Martin reimagines the ancient tree spirits of Greek mythology as silent witnesses to environmental decline, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Her figures, embodiments of ecological grief, are rooted in woodlands they can neither bless nor protect. Molecular symbols of greenhouse gases, suspended within human-altered landscapes, act as visual markers of the invisible forces driving global atmospheric warming and the climate crisis.
More than one in three tree species worldwide faces the threat of extinction.
The number of threatened trees is more than double the number of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined, accounting for over one quarter of species on the IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). Biodiversity loss in the plant kingdom rarely makes headline news, yet has profound ecological impacts from microbes to mammals. Plants compose 80% of Earth’s biomass, providing oxygen, regulating planetary water and carbon cycles, and forming the foundation of all food webs.
The number of threatened trees is more than double the number of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined, accounting for over one quarter of species on the IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). Biodiversity loss in the plant kingdom rarely makes headline news, yet has profound ecological impacts from microbes to mammals. Plants compose 80% of Earth’s biomass, providing oxygen, regulating planetary water and carbon cycles, and forming the foundation of all food webs.
Through history, science, and narrative, these paintings invite viewers to confront the deep entanglements of colonial legacy, climate change, industrialization, and the fragile persistence of the natural world.