Life and death / by Arne Bischoff

A Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) defies the monotony of modern rapeseed fields.

Right now in late spring, the rapeseed (canola) flowering is fully on. With its vibrant yellow colors you can be forgiven to think of it of as an epitomy of life. In fact. It's death. Modern rapeseed fields are highly industrialised, highly pesticided, life-defying wastelands. Nothing else is growing in it and next to no animals flourish from it. Some Bluethroats or European Stonechats maybe. But when the vibrant yellow is gone, a brown monoculture of stems is revealed.

This is what you see in the second image. On the right side. The death side. On the left side, you see a stripe of wildflowers long past its bloom, but still full of life and food. A window in a cultural landscape still close to nature that once was. Before industrial agriculture arrived.

Left is life. Right is death. While the sun is setting.