Coral Wreath

The motivation for my project comes from personal observations and experiences of living in far north Queensland over the last 30 years. During this time, I have observed the gradual deterioration of ocean life and reef health. I have witnessed with horror coral bleaching, coral death and the disintegration of corallite habitats which impact on associated ecosystems and cause a build-up of brown algae. Land clearing along waterways, increased silt and pollution run off, increased tides and cyclone intensity. . . the list goes on.

The focus of my project, Coral Wreath, is the human domination of nature in relation to the Great Barrier Reef.

Loss, a necklace, is the threading together of graduating coloured and disintegrating forms inspired by coral. Linked like a daisy chain, the necklace is ungainly and stiff as it twists and turns, unsettled and awkward. The connection to the body and the neck is at the most degraded and faded part of the chain. Loss is about symbiosis and ecology; how life is interconnected and how injury of one thing can create a chain reaction and domino effect.

Screwed is a container holding images of faces and hands surrounded by and viewed through a tracery of coral-inspired forms. This work is intended to offer hope that the reef is fighting back; who is screwed and who really faces extinction? How will humanity face the environmental crisis of a warming planet? Will coral adapt and reform as the warming seas track away from the equator?

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Coral Wreath, Loss, 2021  
drawing, watercolour and ink  
297 x 420 mm

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Coral Wreath, Loss, a necklace, 2021  
3-D printed resin, copper-plated, patinated 3-D printed resin and copper  
400 x 40 x 10 mm

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Coral Wreath, Loss, a necklace (detail), 2021    
copper-plated, patinated 3-D printed resin and copper  
400 x 40 x 10 mm

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Coral Wreath, Screwed, a container, 2021  
copper-plated, patinated, 3-D printed resin and vitreous enamelled copper  
55 x 115 x 115 mm

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Coral Wreath, Screwed, a container, 2021  
copper-plated, patinated, 3-D printed resin and vitreous enamelled copper  
55 x 115 x 115 mm

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Coral Wreath, Screwed, a container, 2021  
copper-plated, patinated, 3-D printed resin and vitreous enamelled copper  
556 x 115 x 115 mm