Sculptures and Installations
The construction of three dimensional images poses particular challenges. I have used different materials and found objects in my work so far and continue to experiment in these mediums.
Greta
"Greta" is an installation by myself and Lynn Godfree inspired by Greta Thunburg's climate activism. Lynn made the word panels and I am responsible for the rest. We were trying to capture the sense of beauty and danger and need to act implied by the reference to Greta's speech at the UN. The work was first exhibited at 'Into the Wild', an exhibition by the Blue Mountains Creative Arts Network (BMCAN) at the Wild Valley Art Park in Wentworth Falls.
Let the Barka flow 2019
The ongoing drought in the Eastern parts of Australia led to a massive Fish kill in the Menindee Lakes in the Murray-Darling Basin. The drought was aggravated by the continuous diversion of river flows to irrigation tanks of the cotton and rice industries. The shocking images in the print media motivated myself and my collaborators Lynn Godfree and Chris Childs-Maidment to set up a temporary river/fish/ installation at Hawkesbury Heights lookout, a wellknown tourist spot overlooking the Hawkesbury River in the Blue Mountains.
The letter Z- Free people 2017
A while ago I encountered the Berber alphabet and the symbolism of the letter Z. The alphabet had long been prohibited by the French colonial masters. it had been reintroduced in schools only a few years ago. Last time I created a sail (see below) with the inscription of the first article of the human rights declaration in Berber script.The letter Z, also stands for "free people"a term used by Berbers to describe themselves. The symbol surrounded by the village name " Tissardmine" adorns a hillside next to the dry riverbed (image below). For this year's project I had planned to somehow bring the symbol down from the hill and into the village. Using local materials, bamboo and date palm fibers, and aluminum foil and fishing line, Wolfgang and I constructed 17 'Zs' and distributed them outside the compound wall, loosely resembling a refugee trek arriving at Tissardmine. As with my previous desert projects, the contrast between a small installation and a huge landscape is obvious. We could have used a thousand 'Zs'. As it was, villagers and children in particular took a liking to the strange objects. Until the next sandstorm they can have them to play with.
From the stars: reflective surfaces experiment in the Australian desert (2017)
The installation is a second trial of different reflective surfaces exposed to desert light. In this instance, I constructed three poles resembling 'alien beings' linked by aluminium covered rope. They were accompanied by two glittering posts, a disco ball, mirrors and a piece of sheet metal. The strangers were noticed by a burqa clad woman who tried to make contact. The burqa is made from shiny material but did not reflect light as much as I hoped. Overall, the artwork invoked science experiments. I learned a lot about size, space, light and colour.
Totem Poles 2016
Continuing with my work on found objects, I have developed a set of totem poles based on segments of timber packing pallets.. The group consists of three poles, a female, a male and twin gendered pole. The poles include paper mache body parts and painted designs reflective of gender.
Art in the Moroccan Desert (2015)
Whilst staying at Cafe Tissardmine Arthouse in Morocco I produced some artworks; a desert sail and a couple of hangings. The Sail was inscribed in tifinagh (berber) script, long outlawed and only recently admitted into the school curriculum. The text is a transliteration of the first article of the human rights convention:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
The hangings represent the four moon phases and Orion, the ever present constellation. They were cut from plastic waterbottels collected in the desert
