Remagine 2021

Interconnected is a photographic self-portrait that sheds light on the interrelationships between the natural marine environment and humans in the context of the global impacts of climate change and plastic pollution. We can and must learn from nature to create more beneficial relationships between ourselves and the world around us, to ensure there are enough natural resources for all, forever. This work is informed by eight months living on the Great Barrier Reef.

In response to rising sea temperatures, some corals have evolved to produce their own natural sunscreen, expressed as a fluorescent pigment. The garment in the photograph is an exoskeleton of coral polyps formed using waste plastic bottles that have been cut, moulded and textured using heat applications. Bottles have been collected in collaboration with the community, reflecting our shared responsibility to care for the environment. This is the first time I have used my own image in an artwork but the figure could have been anyone.

Made from 1023 plastic bags this piece came together during the height of the pandemic and in the aftermath of the devastating 2019-2020 bush fires. It was hard not to adopt an apocalyptic mindset, it still is, yet when chaos integrates itself into the everyday, I find peace knowing my existence is but a fleeting moment on an infinite timeline. This sentiment is embodied by fungi, generating new life from decay.

As one concerned with loss and extinction I can only relinquish to the thought that this is nature, I am, my thoughts are, my smartphone is, just as plastic is too. Does life cease to exist when I do? No, of course we know that it simply passes by. Just the same as nature, it never ceases. There is no doubt that plastic will become a time stamp on earth’s geology, another resource ready to be unearthed.

Unravelled, Untold is made from recycled cotton pulp, sourced from discarded clothing and donated domestic cloth from my local community. The pulp medium is made through a beating process where cloth is reduced to fibres suspended in water. The medium is applied or sprayed onto a silkscreen forming a paper piece.

Reusing and repurposing cloth started early for me on a large remote dairy farm on the Far North Coast, NSW. Through isolation came resourcefulness. I hold memories of my clothes being made from my mother’s repurposed clothes and of precious textiles passing through generations. Present day and I hold the global crisis of disposable fashion and its environmental and social impacts. In response, I call on my community for discarded items of cloth, their contribution is sharing in a story of collective histories held within the fibres as I blend and transform them to retell other stories.