dystopian fairy tale by nick stath depicts mountains and trees as 'monuments of the past'

once long ago, planet earth held many high hills and wide forests, that existed outside of a museum’s walls. australian architect and illustrator nick stath contemplates a nostalgic world where humans can only remember these natural features. his work encompasses an illustrated fairy tale, winning second prize in this year’s sixth annual fairy tales competition run by blank space.

sunrise, 6.03am – I tell my son stories of what it was like to climb the mountains on earth whilst we watched the sunrise over monument 37. forests have vanished. mountains are covered in dust.

all images courtesy of nick stath

the designer‘s story takes place on future earth 100 years from now. all natural elements have ceased to exist, leaving behind a world that resembles the martian landscape. parents tell their children stories of what forests, mountains and grassfields were once like.

early morning,  7.15am – a giant gust of wind hits us as courier v34 passes overhead, delivering what appears to be part of a manufactured forest, to a nearby monument.

stath’s vision for this future environment is a series of massive structures that hoist man-made landscapes into the sky. the structures hold ancient treasures, intended to represent the beauty of earth’s nature that humans have taken for granted. thousands of people now flock from all over the world to experience what mother nature was once like by visiting these architectural megastructures, these ‘monuments of the past’.

midday – we approach one monument dedicated to the green mountains of the past icelandic landscapes.

with desaturated tones and a pastel color palette, stath conveys a nostalgic yet very possible future for the earth. architectural landscapes take up most of his drawings, and humans are only a minuscule fragment in this universe, hinting at the dystopian setting in his very own stories. 

afternoon, 2pm – a museum of mountains, hills and farm land is grouped together into a visual and spatial experience recapturing mother nature. my son walks forward in awe.

dusk – what looks like a plant reaches out from the dust. could this be real?