Oceans
2016 threeOclockgallery, Southbank Melbourne
I began these sculptural works as a response to the recent reports of coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef. Coral becomes stressed by elevated sea temperatures, provoking them to expel the algae that live inside them, leaving the stark white skeleton beneath, which I have echoed here in air dry clay. Mortality seems to increase with the intensity of the bleaching event, the most recent of which are the most severe on record.
My intent in placing them in the cabinet is to create a kind of wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, which were originally private displays of rare or unusual objects, collected by individuals to “inspire wonder and stimulate creative thought”. Part exotic treasure chest, part science lab, these collections reflected an individual’s desire to find their place within the larger context of nature and the divine; over time evolving to become the precursors to the modern day museum. Within the parameters of the cabinet space, the collector could seek to comprehend and control nature by organising and cataloguing various objects and artefacts, enabling them to impose order on the natural world; a continual process of rediscovery and classification which we are still engaged in today. Such collections provide us with an opportunity to reflect on our own troubled relationship with the natural world at a time when we seem hell bent on destroying it.