Blind Spot opened in May at Linden Center for Contemporary Art as a part of the 2014 Innovators Program.

About the work-

My latest installation project, ‘Blind Spot’, has been a daring attempt to map out a large three dimensional hole in space. A complex and multifaceted anti-form that is as optically impossible to describe as the space inside an atom.

Blind Spot describes one of the most significant environmental discoveries of our age- the Ozone Hole. Like an iceberg looming in space, it is a dark wonder of the natural world, a landmark that cannot be found on any atlas or world map. Its appearance in our atmosphere every spring is a haunting reminder of how we close we come to pushing our environment beyond the point of regeneration.

As the southern Ozone hole appears to be stabilizing, the northern hole continues to grow, breaking record after record every year. This provokes a continuing dialogue on the Montreal protocol: did we get it right and is this the first instance of changing our behaviour to correct the imbalance humans have created in nature?

Finding a means to visually and conceptually fathom this unperceivable aspect of nature, Blind Spot aims to delineate the blind spot in perception that fails to make the connection between existence and the systems within nature that support it. Beyond the visible, these systems can only be seen when aided by lenses and computers. These devices filter nature, offering a techno- romantic glimpse into existence.

“I wanted the viewer to be able to look up and see the ozone hole hovering in the ceiling of the gallery. By creating a lens-like mirror and installing it above the work, I was able to use the mirror like a satellite, to reflect what was otherwise out of view to the earth bound.

When I was working with the scientific data from NASA I had a feeling the shape and form of the ozone hole would resemble something recognizable from nature but I wasn’t sure what. As I transferred it from a two-dimensional to three drawing I came to the realization that the hole looked like it was an iceberg. An iceberg looming in space – and the tip of the iceberg of our environmental issues.”
Within my arts practice I reinterpret traditional craft based materials and techniques, working with new technologies to find innovative ways to respond to the issues the work addresses. Observing nature filtered through imagery from NASA’s Earth Observing Satellite Data Centre, Earth’s life support systems become visible.

Today there is a tenuous relationship between the fragility of our environment and its ability to regenerate. The success or failure of this lies in learning how to make the concerns of these invisible aspects of our life support system on Earth visible so that the unforeseeable consequences never eventuate.  The forecast for tomorrow’s weather is reliant on our perception of today.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Innovators 1
Exhibition Dates: Friday, 16 May 2014 - Sunday, 22 June 2014
Linden's Innovators series of exhibitions presents new and innovative contemporary art. The artists in Innovators 1 respond to the unique spaces at Linden, through painting, sculpture, installation and intervention.

ARTISTS: Jessie Bullivant, littlewhitehead, curated by David Hagger, Nicholas Ives, James Bonnici and Amelie Scalercio, Britt Salt, Jasmine Targett

Article: Blind Spot opens at Linden Center for Contemporary Art