Image Credit: Ellen Sandbeck, "Mandala for the End of Time," cut paper, 2022, 27" x 27"

Preview image: Ellen Sandbeck, "Lake Tana" (detail, edited), cut paper, 2024, 39" x 27"

An environmentalist since the age of 11, Ellen Sandbeck harmoniously merges science and art. As Long as the Rivers Shall Run continues her journey to educate and inspire positive action towards preserving the environment. The exhibition features endemic species in The Mississippi and The Nile.

Sandbeck’s work examines the impact and history of colonization in the environment. The piece “Headwaters of Lake Victoria,” for example, addresses the British Colonial introduction of the gigantic Nile Perch to Lake Victoria as commercial and sport fish. This led to the extinction of many other of the lake's indigenous species, rendering the indigenous peoples' fishing methods unsustainable. Sandbeck believes that “every species is just as valuable as every other species.”

Her intricately-designed works are inspired by Chinese paper cutting, known as Jianzhi. Since 1985, Sandbeck has designed color charts, mapped out each placement, and meticulously cut into each sheet of vibrant colored paper to construct a detailed image from the bottom up. Paper cutting challenges the artist and offers an element of danger and surprise. Every cut has the possibility of going wrong, reshaping her work on the fly.

Sandbeck spends months researching each species to depict them as unique organisms. The works are paired with facts about each species, and stories that make clear the far-reaching environmental effects of short-sighted action by human colonial forces. Sandbeck has discovered that “reeling people in with humor and enticing images, then hitting them with the unpleasant news, is the best way to get through to people. No one likes to be preached at, and who wants to look at something ugly while learning about unpleasant truths?”