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Lace is an installation made from crocheted plastic bags denoting marine life. The pearly translucent white of the lace forms becomes a lament for the destruction of our oceans
in particular coral reef systems. The use of plastic bags highlights the detrimental impact of plastic on marine fauna by synthesizing a convergence of plastic-encased marine forms.

Lace-133 Plastic Bags, installation view, recycled plastic bags, size variable, 2016

Lace-133 Plastic Bags, detail, recycled plastic bags, size variable, 2016

Lace-133 Plastic Bags, detail, recycled plastic bags, size variable, 2016

Lace-133 Plastic Bags, detail, recycled plastic bags, size variable, 2016

Lace-577 Plastic Bags, installation view, recycled plastic bags, 210cm diameter, 2016

Lace-577 Plastic Bags, detail, recycled plastic bags, 210cm diameter, 2016

Lace-577 Plastic Bags, detail, recycled plastic bags, 210cm diameter, 2016

Hazelhurst Arts Centre, 2022

Essay extract by Jo Morrow…

For Rachel Honnery, the bodily investment in her artistic response to environmental malaise, specifically incited by the devastation of the 2019/2020 bushfires, is pronounced and personal. Totemic structures trussed and suspended like an eerie skeleton forest are crafted, stitch be stitch, in a literally painstaking act. Layers of yarn, wax and ashen pigment build slowly on one another in her process-led practice that looks to science for its experimental impetus and rationale. Rachel’s autoimmune disease, and the physical and psychological pain that accompanies it, are mirrored in her depiction of environmental loss and degradation. In her series of photographic nude self-portraits, Rachel’s anguish is palpable. As she strains against an entangled web of her own creation, the uninvited assault of disease on her body is an unmistakable and keenly-felt metaphor for the sweeping and devastating loss in the natural environment.

“Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or gum wrappers or yesterday’s homeopape. When nobody’s around, kipple reproduces itself. For instance, if you go to bed leaving any kipple around your apartment, when you wake up the next morning there’s twice as much of it. It always gets more and more”

“No one can win against kipple,” he said, “except temporarily and maybe in one spot, like in my apartment I’ve sort of created a stasis between the pressure of kipple and nonkipple, for the time being. But eventually I’ll die or go away, and then the kipple will again take over. It’s a universal principle operating throughout the universe; the entire universe is moving toward a final state of total, absolute kippleization.”

Kipple is a yearlong collection of beach plastic from 19 visits to Congwong Beach, La Perouse, NSW. The aim of this work is to create a data set, from the hard plastics that were washed up along the beach’s littoral zone. The rubbish not only becomes an installation but also a data visualisation tool, that fuses both science and art, combining investigation, method and data.

Kipple is a reminder of how our oceans are changing due to the impact of plastic. In the case of kipple the more you try to remove it, the more you find, as you become attuned to its frequency.’’

Kipple is a work in progress and is due to be exhibited in February 2018 at Interlude Gallery, Glebe, NSW.

absolute kippleization (detail)
AD Space Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2016/2017

absolute kippleization (detail)
AD Space Gallery installation, collected beach plastic, glass jars, size variable, 2016/2017

Congwong Beach Kipple: 16th March, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 18th March, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 14th April, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 22nd April, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 2nd May, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 12th May, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 30th May, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 7th June, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 20th June, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 25th July, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 6th August, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 15th August, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 31st August, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 28th October, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 28th November, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 13th December, 2016

Congwong Beach Kipple: 31st January, 2017

Congwong Beach Kipple: 12th February, 2017

Congwong Beach Kipple: 2nd March, 2017

2023

Through the use of painting and fibre installation sculpture this developing body of work explores the colour, shapes, texture, and movement of the natural environment of nuenonne (Southern Central Tasmania).

It’s a landscape exploding with endemic flora that in parts is sculpted by Antarctic winds and storms, in others, dampened by rain and snow producing cold climate rain forests. 

It can be a harsh environment, but it is also one of breath-taking beauty, worthy of celebration. Sadly, the continuation of old growth logging constantly threatens this delicate ecosystem.