Algalrhythms Exhibition Photos & Artist Statement

Here are some general shots of the exhibition at King Island Cultural Centre. Unfortunately the lighting is a combination of fluorescent and natural lighting so isn't the best for photography, but this will give you some idea of the exhibition.

Kelp frill sample for workshop, samples, and TEXTILE Fibre Forum articles on display.

My source book of images and samples of techniques on display.

Algalrhythms

 Artist Statement

In December 2019, before the world as we know it changed, I spent 5 weeks wandering the shores of King Island. Without knowing what was to come, I already felt quite despondent about the apocalyptic events dominating the world news. It had been a year of Trump, #metoo, Greta Thunberg, endless gun violence, war, and terrorism, culminating in the epic fires burning in Australia.

Interestingly, what I found on the shores of King Island reflected this theme in some ways. My thoughts regarding death and decay and the fragility of life, found substance in the wealth of kelp in varying stages of colourful decay on the shores; the skeletons of birds ripped from the skies, the bones of wallabies, and the carapaces of sea life littering the island – they all had a beauty – and a stillness - to them that calmed me. On reflection some time later I realised that this was the phenomenon biophilia – an hypothesis proposed by Edward O. Wilson that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. With that connection comes the realisation that we too, are part of that endless cycle of life, and that every stage of it is beautiful in some way.

A further hypothesis called urgent biophilia (Keith Tidball 2012) posits that when disaster strikes via geophysical events, war, pandemic and the like, humans ‘seek engagement with nature to further their efforts to summon and demonstrate resilience’, and that ‘within the envelope of our skin is a biological entity which, through evolution, has been tuned for survival in natural environments’. By engaging with nature on the island and for the months afterward as I explored it through textiles, I believe I was feeling biophilia. For those that can’t reach nature, I hope that my imagery inspired by it may help them in their search for connection with it, now needed more than ever.

My primary form of record keeping during the residency was photographs, and some of these are on display with the related works as very obvious indicators of my inspiration. Others were more difficult to transcribe, as they weren’t necessarily an object of focus, but perhaps more a sense – of retained movement, of decay, of disintegration back into the earth. As the body of work grew, the distance from photograph to work grew – firstly towards altered digital prints on fabric, then to stylised lino prints on paper and fabric. This was a pleasing progression, as I wanted to move away from re-creating, to expressing my own interpretation and reaction.

My work explores the beauty of ‘tragedy’ using the many textile techniques I have used in the past decade making wearable art works – most of them biologically inspired. Dyeing is often a starting point, followed by free-motion embroidery, shibori shaping, needle and wet felting, leather moulding, and now 3D pen printing and digital sublimation printing.