Fragility  ​(in collaboration with Spanish performance artist Mar Serinya)
Fundacio L'Olivar Spain

Fragility
Dead branches and leaves, Photograph
Dimensions variable
2016

I was fascinated with the fragility of dead branches and leaves disintegrating rapidly into the ground to provide nourishment to the next generation of plants. The systematic repetition of the gestures of stitching them together became a meditation on the fragility of life and the never-ending cycles of Nature.

---

Together Forever ​(in collaboration with Mar Serinya, Spain)
Fundacio L'Olivar, Spain

Together Forever
Wheat, dead branches on painted plywood
175 x122 cm
2016

​Walking in the mountains and the forests, I experienced an intense awareness of how are bodies belong less to our idea of self and more to a natural order outside of us. 
Dead twigs and branches dissolve into the soil of the fields nurturing the wheat fields that in turn provide sustenance to humans. Other parts of the plant go back to again nourish the soil. The rain from the skies nourishes the wheat plants but vegetation itself creates the conditions for the rains to happen. Human life too is entwined within this.

---

Dead Plants Don't Grow 2
Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Australia

Dead Plants Don't Grow 2
Dead plants, monofilament
Dimensions variable
2015
Site Specific Installation, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, NSW, Australia

I collected the plants from the forest floor on the edge of the Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains. They lay there destined  to  decompose  into  the  soil  and provide nourishment to the next generation of  plants.  I hung them in long ropes much as fresh flower garlands are hung in Indian wedding celebrations. The work is formed into a series of veils or screens alluding to the screens through which today’s city dwellers often look at nature–a  car  window,  a  camera  lens,  a  handphone,  computer  or television screen. It is a reflection on the cycles of celebration and sorrow,  life  and death and also the  alienation  of  urban life  from the natural world.

This work has been adapted from an earlier work created in an open building in the forest. Within the gallery context this work takes on another character. Shadows cast on the gallery wall interact with a series of screens that "float" at varying distances from the wall without touching the ceiling or floor. 

For details about the building of this work refer my blog post "Exploring BigCi" Exhibition at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery 

---

Dead Plants Don't Grow 1
BigCI, Australia

Dead Plants Don't Grow 1
Dead plants, string, wire, drop cloth
2014
Site Specific Installation, BigCI Artist Residency, NSW, Australia

Photo Credit: Nicola Kinloch 

 
I collected these dead plants from the forest floor in the Greater Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. They lay unheeded destined to decompose into the soil and provide nourishment to the next generation of plants.The cycles of nature are similar to the cycles of human life. I hung this work in long ropes much as fresh flower garlands are hung in Indian wedding celebrations reflecting on the transient nature of both celebration and suffering.

To find out more about the inspiration behind this work read my blog post: The Making of "Dead Plants Don't Grow"