The Natural Balance Series
Concrete, Rebar, Clay & Artificial Grass
Concrete Tiles
Display methods & close ups
On Display
Welded steel frame, clear acrylic, plants & concrete
20x60x20 cm
In the tiles series pieces of plywood were cut to various sizes and then vacuum formed in artificial foam to form square moulds. The moulds were then lined with hessian and concrete was then poured into them. Within the concrete decaying plants, newspaper, and pigment were added. Newspaper articles revolved around political news but there was very little information in the way of global warming and the environment. Glen Morris in an article for the black mountain project references how information about climate change and the environment is just another story to tell and ‘Once lost, do the wonders of our world just get forgotten and cease to mean anything to us’?
. When I place the tiles on display as though nature is a relic or a fossil, the newspaper is ironic in the sense that what remains is what was thought to be ‘important’ from the 21st century.
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Taking inspiration from museum methods of displaying relics and fossils I created a steel structure in which to present the concrete tiles. Placed within the cabinet they are on display. Foreshadowing a future where the human-nature battle has dissolved and only the remnants of nature are left behind.
Working studio photographs
'Hierarchies'
Stack of concrete sheets
20x40x220 cm
2019
Within "Hierarchies" there is an evident hierarchal relationship presented between humans and nature. The taller the concrete becomes, the more unstable it grows. Mirroring the instabilities and tensions present within the human-nature relationship.
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The build up of layers of the concrete references the layers of sediment that deposit at the earths surface. Over time these mineral deposits build up, due to compression they build up layers of sedimentary rock. Limestone is an example of a sedimentary rock and can be used as an aggregate for concrete. Limestone is formed from the sedimentation of the skeletal remains of marine organisms. By embedding plant material within the layers of concrete, there is a connection between the past, the earths layers and human construction.
Paper making
Lintel and petals
