Design Canberra 2022 Journal.
Journaling competition. Creative response to a key word delivered daily. My approach was to use digital images from my camera roll.
Flow - I think this is what my brain looks like when I am in a state of creative flow. Connections, tangents, contrast, pattern-matching, obfuscation, a muddle then clarity. This is actually autumn trees and buildings reflected in an inner-city pond.
Bush - New growth, shelf fungi, tree silhouette on a bark background.
Birdsong - I reimagined Lorikeets as a competing choirs.
Bluebells - We have floral and faunal emblems, what about a fungal emblem? Lichens are ubiquitous in the ACT and are a symbiotic relationship of fungus and algae. I had fun re-imagining a bluebell-coloured lichen.
Brutalist - This is the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney. Using my photo of the MCA, I’m playing with the inverse of Brutalist architecture - circular, decorative, colourful, 2D and playful.
Sparkle - Frost on my plants in winter made into green, sparkly snowflakes.
Home - this is the roof of my tent - my home while camping. I re-imagined it as 1970s-era wallpaper.
Roundabout - These are Thrombolites, they are ancient forms of microbial communities that photosynthesise forming these calcium carbonate structures. These ones have been ‘round about 2000 years, found on a journey to South West WA. Mesmerising.
Magenta - I googled the history of magenta dye and discovered an 1850s saga of organic chemical experimentation, intense rivalry and more chemistry than my brain could handle. It reminded me that the world of colour, outside the digital realm, is chemical. This is the chemical structure of magenta dye with the nitrogen and oxygen atoms represented by magenta tulip petals.
Bee - “Bee Ghosts”. This one started as a bright flowery thing, but ended in a post-bee dystopia with the blame squarely placed on humans’ urbanisation and concrete-isation.
Sustainable - Built-in obsolescence - this is the inside of my blender. This work glorifies and pays homage to the tiny rod of acrylic that snapped, making the $150 appliance unfixable.
Wrinkle - Sometimes wrinkles represent a transformation. Not good nor bad, just changing.
Trace - always fascinated by the trails left by the moth grub in scribbly gums.
1927 - 1927 was the opening of (Old) Parliament House. I was there a few months ago and I only took 3 photos - and not of the building but of one of my favourite works - The Centenary of Women’s Suffrage Commemorative Fountain made by artist Mary Stuart. I’m trying to capture the optimism and freedom the fountain exudes and the oppressive, patriarchal structures of the political system. It reminds me of the ‘teal wave' from the 21/5/22 Election.
Dovetail - My thoughts went to wood joints and “fitting easily and snugley together” - I searched my camera roll and found the inverse - human control, degradation and transformation of the landscape.
Collaborate
Alchemy - Everyday alchemy.
La Nina - For us, La Nina weather system means colder, wetter weather patterns. The name ‘La Nina” means ‘the girl’ in Spanish. This one combines the component part of rain - the rain drop - resting on petals and stems before falling to the ground.
Prototype - Cicada shell. I am fascinated by cicada shells, and found one on a tree near LBG with the cicada emerging. The shell is like the perfect prototype. I felt this cicada had ‘nailed it’ but it led me to thinking: what if cicadas were as critical of their bodies like humans are, what would it change?….hence Cicada 2.0.