Jasmine Morgan Ryan (Targett) Ozone Hole Sculpture Blind Spot, 2014.
Recent Acquisitions - Blind Spot, 2014 Artist - Jasmine Morgan Ryan.
By Simon Gregg, Director Gippsland Art Gallery.
From Gippsland Art Gallery Autumn – Winter 2025, Page 27-29.
Jasmine Morgan-Ryan is an artist concerned with, on one hand, our intimate relationship with nature and, on the other, our universal connection to the cosmos. For her, the mountain form (or, her particular case, an iceberg) is a fertile ground. With climate change themes high on the agenda for many artists working today, the challenge many face is how to position their practice in such a way as to be scientifically relevant as aesthetically pleasing (few artists now feel they have the luxury of making art ‘for art’s sake).
Morgan-Ryan's major work Blind Spot (2014), which has been acquired by the Gallery, takes as its beginning point the biological quirk that we all have a ‘blind spot' built into our retinas, at the point where the optical nerve is connected. Applied on a global level, we might think of the ozone hole in the atmosphere as a kind of blind spot-as something never visible but making its presence increasingly felt. It speaks also to the wilful 'blindness' of climate deniers because the hole cannot be seen with the naked eye. By using satellite data sourced from NASA, Morgan-Ryan creates a physical ' map' of the ozone hole on a 1:1 human scale, making it visible for all. She explains:
Blind Spot maps the twentieth century tipping point of awareness surrounding environmental concerns-the discovery of the ozone hole. Like an iceberg looming in space, it is a dark wonder of the natural world that cannot be found on any atlas or world map. Its appearance in our atmosphere every spring is a haunting reminder of how close we come to pushing our environment beyond the point of regeneration. The work maps the ozone hole filtered through the lens of a computer, revealing its visual similarity to an iceberg. The narrative of the work highlights the history of ongoing issues surrounding global warming and today's climate change realities.[1]
Framing a physical map of the ozone hole through a sculptural reimagining of one the core motifs employed by the European Romantics-especially J.M.W. Turner-is a stroke of genius for this self-described 'techno-romantic' artist. On approach we immediately 'read' Blind Spot as a work positioned within the lexicon of Romantic art; it is thrillingly beautiful-composed of sheets of translucent material it captures and refracts natural light to produce a shimmer of rainbow effects-but in its bulk and incongruous siting within a gallery space it becomes, if net terrifying somewhat alarming. The work is finished off with a mirror, suspended from high above, allowing viewers to see the sculpture from below as we would the actual ozone hole. Blind Spot will make its Gallery debut this winter as part of the major exhibition Turner & Australia.
[1] Jasmine Morgan-Ryan, cited at http://jasminetargett.com/portfolio/blind-spot/, accessed 30 October 2024.
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