Ghosts [& Monsters]
Messums West | 11 Oct - 24 Nov 2025
Do materials hold memory? Does sound have consciousness? What is the potential of a being to express itself from beyond the veil?
The term ghost generally implies something is dead. However in the context of this work, death is seen as energy transitioning into a new form (the alchemy of disintegration as metamorphosis). These works explore how experimental art processes can materialise hidden, intangible things into being, bringing to light that which usually exists beyond the scope of vision. In a capitalist society, monsters is a tool for othering. It has been used as a way of segregating humanity from the worlds that surround it. The works in this show embrace the messy entanglement of co-creation, making work with the insects, aquatic creatures, carnivorous birds and nocturnal pollinators from the continent known as Australia.
Pied Butcherbird Series
23.19 minute moving image piece (on loop) *with audio
metal floor piece (4m sq?)
8 x etchings (2 x notes that are repeated print as relief prints?) : F B F# D# D# F D A#)
Chaldni plate sculpture?
D#6 - 1268.9hz, 2023 [23.19 minutes on loop]
examples of etchings - will be 8 in total [40cmH x 29cmW] - F B F# D# D# F D A# (notes in pied butcherbird melody)
D#6 etching
D6 etching
CHROMATOGRAM DIPTYCHS (25.4cm H x 40.64 W)
A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies - Chromatogram of butterfly (heteronympha paradelpha) found dead on my apartment windowsill | Ngunawal Country
Chromatogram of wasp (pison spinolae) found dead on my apartment windowsill | Ngunawal Country
Caterpillars in Metamorphosis - Chromatogram of drowned caterpillars (found in a trough) at The Corridor Project | Wiradjuri Country
Zombie Fish - Chromatogram of dead carp found in the detritus of Galari flood | Wiradjuri Country
Nosferatu on Devil’s Rope - Chromatogram of grey-headed flying fox found dead on barbed wire fence | Wiradjuri Country
more chromatogram diptychs for consideration:
Shimmer - Chromatogram of grey-headed flying fox and fallen fig (half-eaten by pollinators) | Gadigal and Birrabirragal Country
Cicada Emergence - Chromatogram of cicada shell from 2024 cicada emergence at Plumwood Mountain | Walbunja Country
Chromatogram of bluebottle (physalia physalis) found washed up on a beach | Walbunja Country
Chromatogram of a dead praying mantis found outside my studio overlooking Wollumbin, and photograph of the live praying mantis I met on an earlier residency at The Corridor Project | Bundjalung Country and Wiradjuri Country
Dancing Death - Chromatogram of abandoned dusty spider web from Takayna and photo of communal huntsman (delena cancerides) ~ found in the ridge, hung by his own web | Palawa Country and Ngunawal Country
framing reference from Conversations with bees show at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery (2024-5)
