Beached limited edition of 20 Photograph

Victoria’s speech for Preserving Ostranenie I admit the initial response to Karyn’s description of this body of work about rockmelons was one of surprise and wonder. I was surprised that a fruit I had for the most part taken entirely for granted had become the inspiration for not one, but two artists. Without having seen any of the work, I started to contemplate the rockmelon for the first time for myself. As I look down to my own hands the pattern on the surface of the melon mirrors the deep lines and crazing I see as my own skin ages and I struggle to preserve it. The rockmelon as a metaphor for the transience of life and the slow process of decay and time actually started to make a lot more sense. One of the things about Karyn’s and Teahs work is that while both artists have followed their own process, the references and symbols intersect. The necklaces of Teah speak of the body and the rockmelon surface details increasingly reference the skin. In fact, the necklaces using the rockmelon rind curl and hang like leather, actually more like aged skin in a decorative but also slightly macabre way. Teah uses the ancient practice of basketry to make objects of adornment. Yet by using the rind and seed (the waste materials) to ensure there is no waste, our reverence and curiosity is heightened. In the same way that we experience artifacts from other cultures or from other ancient times, in hushed museums and hallowed halls. Karyn has made small felted pots and vessels appearing simultaneously collected and designed to collect, the very practice of ancient gathering and in more recent centuries, museum curatorial behaviours Both artists set out to deliberately enhance the misreading of the characteristics of the rockmelon. To subtly shift existential meaning across the broadest stretch of linear time. The ancient time it took for evolution to turn a fruit, protectively to hide as something else, camouflaged to appear as a rock, the very earth from which is comes. The rock reference is enhanced in the rock circle. An ancient rune stone circle with glyphs of seeds and references to ritual practice and again time. The hunter gathering of modern waste materials used to make the melons in Wastelands puts the previous misdirection in reverse. Literally shifting meaning to ask us to consider what future, food or ritual may exist after the contaminating the fields and country with toxic plastics and waste. There is a calling across time in the choice of simplistically ancient and handmade methods which propels forward to a future time when preserving of food and our way of life will be fundamentally altered, from the waste we leave in the very fields we gather our harvests from today. The circle of meaning is more of a spiral. Linking the fruit to us, our skin, our fields, our craft, ritual life and future As a conservator preserving the nature of an artifact is synonymous with preserving its reading and meaning. The idea of using time and food preserving techniques to preserve the elements which are not infact food challenges the priorities of what it is we need to keep for the future. Are we preserving the right customs, ideals, practice and traditions? Exactly what should be in our time capsule for the future? How do we preserve tomorrows antiquarian relics today is, the conundrum of my profession in cultural preservation. Capturing as Cezanne said “the appleness of the apple” or in this case the rockmeloness of the rockmelon, is finally done in the exploration of the digital reimaging of the rind which can only be contextualized visually, as rind, by proximity to the other works. However these images are quintessentially a modern time based medium, the antithesis of the works in ancient basketry or felting techniques. Where ancient techniques and practices are evoked by tribal adornment and rune circles, the digital manipulation of images of the rockmelon forces us to look to the future. Forms are morphed, scale expanded and the colour pallete altered with images in both the positive and negative. The surface of the rockmelon skin undergoes a visual transformation reminiscent of the screen filling images of the eye of the space voyager David Bowman as he moves through galaxies of time and space in the closing minutes of Stanley Kubricks 1968 classic “2001 A Space Odyssey” towards a future which is indeterminate and mystical and again reflection is heightened as we look at the forward time capsule as visioned by Teah and Karyn. I wish to thank the artists for inviting me to speak on their behalf and I welcome you all to enjoy the exhibition.

Photography:Manipulated on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:25 W x 30 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.