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Mt Field is a magnificent environment northwest of Hobart. It features a diverse range of flora that includes temperate rainforests and alpine moorlands. During the summer months, Mt Field Summit basks in a glory of silver, grey, white and green foliage.  Combine this array of colour with a fast shifting climate, rugged terrain and reflective lakes and you have a place that is inspiring and captivating.

View From Lake Dobson Road, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Looking Out over the Mountain, oil on linen, 2014-2015

Shred of Pink, oil on paper, 2014-2015

A piece of Lake Dobson, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Beginning of the Season, oil on paper, 2014-2015

The Weather Changes fast on Mt Field, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Misted Tarn, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Lake Dobson, oil on linen, 2014-2015

View of Mt Field, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Scrub & Mist, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Scrub & Lake, oil on linen, 2014-2015

On the way to the lake, oil on paper, 2014-2015

On its way across the mountain, oil on paper, 2014-2015

Fused imagines new forms of hybrid flora and fauna; mutated corals that are half scleractinian, half plastic, dystopian creatures that remind us of our indifference now and for hundreds of years into the future. Because the irony is that while we rely on plastics for throwaway purposes such as packaging, they can take hundreds of years to break down.

Fused, installation view, Gaffa Gallery, 2016

Fused, installation view, Gaffa Gallery, 2016

Fused, installation view, Gaffa Gallery, 2016

I have just returned home from a life changing art residency in the Arctic Circle, where I spent two and ½ weeks travelling around Svalbard with a group of wonderful artists, guides and crew upon the tall ship, The Antigua. The experience was one of mixed emotions – adulation, excitement, wonder, despair, anger and hope. I am now trying to make sense of what I experienced. We witnessed plastic in the remotest of areas, such as the isolated Mushamna on Svalbard. It was heart breaking to bear witness to so much plastic that we could not physically collect. In jettisoned fishing nets we found reindeer antlers, birds, and seal bones. Our tall ship managed to navigate waters previously frozen, places we shouldn’t be able to access, direct observation of vanishing sea ice. We also saw many glaciers which have been reduced in size. In some fjords, glaciers that were giant, colossal moving precipices of ice were now shrunken and separated by moraine hills. These examples of devastation were contrasted by magnificent landscapes, beached and floating aqua marine ice statues, sparking ice cliffs of assorted blues, and wildlife such as polar bears, blue whales, seals, walruses and birds galore. For now, I need to understand this experience so that I can communicate what I have seen, inspire hope and encourage positive action.

The work that I have posted here was done during the residency. These works explore a dystopian future view of this marine environment. A place where fake nature is normal.

UNSW Faculty of Art and Design, Fowlers Gap Residency, 2016
Life in the Plasticshere – Nested 01, Oil on paper, 130x100cm, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Nested 02, Oil on paper, 130x100cm, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Nested 03, oil on paper, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Suffocated, digital print, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Suffocated, digital print, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Suffocated, digital print, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Suffocated, digital print, 2016

Life in the Plasticshere – Suffocated, digital print, 2016

Posted on March 21, 2012 by rachel

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Posted on March 21, 2012 by rachel

This entry was posted in Art by rachel. Bookmark the permalink.

Many years ago I fell in love with the humble moth when reading A.S. Byatt’s novella “Morpho Eugenia”. In this story a naturalist falls in love with the daughter of his patron. He delights her by creating a room filled with butterflies during the day. Eager to please he invites her back that evening to experience the wonders of the moth and instead of delight and wonder, she is frightened and revolted.

This scene has always played on my imagination. Why does the butterfly get all the glory and the moth none? Is it the showy colours of the butterfly that attracts people to her? Or is it the shadowy nature of her evening sister that creates fear and loathing?

Either way, I love the moth. I find her subtle colours alluring and reminiscent of pearls and opals. She is not just white or grey, she is green, turquoise, terracotta, cream, chocolate brown, silver and gold.  She is a reflection of the moonlight she is guide by.

The paintings included for exhibition attempt to pay tribute to the moth, her flight patterns (natural and artificial), her colours, her patterns and her stateliness.

Deriving its name from P. K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, absolute kippleization refers to the stuff that accumulates and takes over our lives. It directly investigates the large quantities of plastic entering our oceans and waterways. A confronting testimony to our consumerist and disposable lifestyles.

This­ artwork explores this notion of kipple, investigating the manner in which plastics impact marine environments. I like to think of plastics as a material artefact, disintegrating and transforming both physically and functionally. Over time, plastics break down in the marine environment. The chemical sequence that makes up plastic will lose chains, rendering the plastic toxic. The shapes of the plastic objects become weatherworn and broken. The plastic’s purpose also changes when it is discarded. No longer a vessel or a lid, the plastic becomes adrift, a floating interference in the water until it becomes a receptacle for bacteria, a toxic anomaly or a fake food source.

Approximately every fortnight for twelve months I collected, documented, cleaned and categorised hard plastic, including straws, bottles, lids, toys, cigarette lighters and cotton buds, forming over 19 cluster samples. Including prints of the cluster samples taken at Congwong Beach, in excess of 200 specimen jars containing sorted plastic found at the Beach and graphs that abstractly document and analyse volume, absolute kippleization reminds us of vast and overwhelming challenges that we face in the age of the Anthropocene.

The plastic is classified by both type and colour, attracting us with its vibrancy, the vivid palette lures and seduces. In the specimen jars, the plastic reminds us of lollies and treats. But once you look closely and you are aware that this is plastic collected from a single place, the glitter and glamour of the colour fades. It is here that you notice evidence of micro-organisms crafting floating homes to spread across the globe. It is here that you notice missing fragments that have been broken off as the plastic deteriorates.

absolute kippleization fuses both science and art, in order to give a voice to the our marine life. It combines scientific investigation, method and data, with visual analysis and interpretation. The work allows me to think like a scientist through collecting evidence, repeating processes, classifying specimens and inputting data. absolute kippleization requires scientific processes and data results for it to literally take shape and form.

absolute kippleization (data visualisation)
Interlude Gallery installation, framed digital prints, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization 
Interlude Gallery installation. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (specimens)
Interlude Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (beach evidence)
Interlude Gallery installation, digital prints, 2017. Photo courtesy of Interlude Gallery.

absolute kippleization (data visualisation)
Digital prints, 120cm x 90cm, 2017.

absolute kippleization (data visualisation)
Digital prints, 120cm x 90cm, 2017.

absolute kippleization (data visualisation)
Digital prints, 120cm x 90cm, 2017.

Posted on January 31, 2013 by rachel


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Posted on March 20, 2012 by rachel

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