mimicry

2023: Carbonised

Posted by admin

This is another project for Studio 2, as part of my Master of Fine Art program. It consisted of a mournful, site-specific installation of charred cuttlebones, showing how a selected location informed a body of work. While continuing to memorialise endangered sea-life through cuttlebones, for this site specific project I entered the shadowy realm of museum storage the mausoleum of colonial trophies and taxidermy. Based on a dilapidated plan drawer this installation consisted of eight cuttlebones surrounded by pictorial labels, tags and flip books made from relief prints. The relief prints featured the contour lines of the cuttlebone.

This project was intended to create a mournful affect, with the charred cuttlebones symbolising the extreme consequence of global warming.

Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of Carbonised installation, close up of eight casts and tags, 2023. Casts made from high compression gypsum, painted with acrylic, with twine and tags from 250 gsm paper. Cast sizes variable, approx. 24 x 9 x 3.5 cm. 2023.
Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of revised configuration of the Carbonised installation, for a meeting with my supervisor, 2023.

 

2023: Entombed in plain sight

Posted by admin

This is a project for my Master of Fine Art Studio 2 course. It consisted of an installation of bound cuttlebones, demonstrating innovation to transform an unsuccessful experiment into a beacon of hope. As shown in the image below this work features plaster-bound cuttlebones floating in space and time, trapped for eternity in acrylic trophy boxes. The work traverses a regenerative arc, first repurposed as a memorial to extinction and then evolving into a post-human life-form.

The use of green wax to coat the cuttlebones is symbolic. While originally a technical necessity for casting (green wax being the only colour available), the colour suggests chlorophyll and in turn photosynthesis, nature’s non-destructive way of converting light into energy.

Hence while intended to memorialise sea-life, colour and composition opened up the narrative possibility of an absurdist form of post-human life, and concurrently, the redemptive possibilities of solar energy. The intended affect was thus amusement, and hope at the transformative possibilities of recycling.

Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of plaster-bound cuttlebones in acrylic boxes on legs. Materials: cuttlebones, wax, plaster bandages, acrylic and metal. Dimensions: boxes 32 wide x 23 deep x 20 cm high, legs 38 cm wide x 45 cm high. Dimension per assembly approx. 34 cm wide and 65 cm high. Level 3 Building 49, RMIT 2023.
Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of plaster-bound cuttlebones in acrylic boxes, mounted on legs in the corridor, mobilised for flight. Level 3 Building 49 RMIT. 2023.