FUTURE SANDS

Little fragments and fractures from a world constructed by man, they reveal themselves to me as I wander across the shoreline. The problem is, in seeing, now I cannot ‘un-see’. So my hands are often laden, overflowing, with escapee plastic jostling for the best view. Squeaking and poking their way through the cracks between my fingers...

Moved by the impact our frenzied modern lives have on our natural environment, I contemplate the factors that led us to this place. I arrive at words like ‘desire’, ‘consumption’ and ‘choice’, though I recognise the motivations surrounding these things originate elsewhere. Future Sands explores the impact of wayward consumerism and its constructs. Looking at tiny details that are often invisible in our daily lives, I see clues to our internally and externally constructed landscapes. Through drawings and sculpture, I reflect on consumerism on an individual, social and environmental level. Where does this modern addiction find us today, and how will it permeate our future?

I’m resolute and particular when it comes to the plastic I keep. I make the tough cut on the pieces that will go on to inform my artwork. Hand selected for their aesthetics, these convoluted gems and their stories, drive the painful intricacies and imperfections of nib applied ink and fluid watercolour. The polystyrene, after having endured countless days riding the many moods of the ocean, becomes trapped in rock crevices. Other fragments crouch silently on the high tide line, awaiting the next onslaught. I capture my battered foe. I know its weary ways. For me, you have to be a piece of plastic that has done some serious time in the ocean. My plastic must have weathered storms, and earned battle scars, with sun-faded, heat cracked, ravaged, earth stained skin. This is the ugly, raw, inherent beauty that I am in love with. That is how I know each piece I choose has at least one tale to share. Tales of the earth, and earths man. Tales of the ocean and her two faced ways. Calm and cruel. Light and dark. Jazz and Zen. Let us dance.

Future Sands was held at Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy, in February 2015. Future Sands was a featured event of Melbourne's Sustainable Living Festival.