WORKS
Tree Auditor
24 June – 14 July 2024
Social Art Project, Nambour/Namba
A photographer, disguised as a tree auditor, disguised as a social art project.
“are you counting the birds?”
As part of the larger (Nambour/Namba-based) Keeper Project, Fiona Harding took on a self-assigned, tree auditor role spanning three weeks. The work utilised costume, photography, and data collection to record trees and resident’s attitudes towards them. Questions of hierarchies, power structure, interconnectedness, and human-centric thinking emerged through direct resident statements.
Nambour/Namba experienced logging as its first colonisation industry after thousands of years of soul stewardship by First Nations people (Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi People) who named the area after a tree. The effects of past actions became clear in the data. Only 23% of trees had a diameter over 50cm and of that percent, only 5% included trees over 100cm.
Auditing rules were established by the artist including; staying within boundary lines, targeting public land, only auditing trees accessible without damaging vegetation, wearing the same costume daily (combo of hi-vis and khaki), treating the position as a full-time job, methodically recording all the trees in an area until a meal break or shift end, and ceasing auditing if approached by the public to engage in a discourse.
Over the three weeks, a plethora of data was amassed including resident perspectives. These perspectives ranged from viewing trees through a lens of personal convenience or preference to a blanket love for all trees to those advocating for a return to native vegetation.
Through the repeated act of auditing, themes of stillness, attention, and a consideration of trees, as living beings of the community, arose. The project resulted in an increased empathy and sensitivity to trees, wider acceptance of people and the imagining of place pre-colonisation.
Further Documentation of the project can be viewed HERE.
‘Tree Auditor’ was developed for The Keeper Project (Nambour/Namba), produced by Red Chair and developed in collaboration with Field Theory in partnership with Sunshine Coast Council.
Night Body Blooms
21 June – 22 July 2024
Video Projection onto the Judith Wright Centre facade
Developed specifically for FLYING ARTistry and projected on the facade of the Judith Wright Building, Night Body Blooms is a moving digital work, shown to the public (between 6 – 11 pm) as part of ISEA 2024.
Viewed on a loop, this large-scale projection collages watercolour paintings, photographs, neon line work, and a repeated self-portrait from the artist’s previous work, Night Body.
Taking swatches from the natural world, the vivid, futuristic colourscape incorporates, the magenta of the hibiscus, the glow of the moon, and the neon green of the Mycena chlorophos mushroom, only visible at night. Night Body Blooms continues Harding’s ongoing celebration of nature and her fascination for the expansive frontiers of the universe.
Flying ARTistry Program (shown for ISEA 2024), Judith Wright Center, Brisbane/Meanjin
Project generously supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland
You Will Die (pothos on fence)
2.4 x 1.8 metres, 2024
temporary fence panel, variegated pothos, test tubes
You Will Die (pothos on fence) is a large-scale, temporary, sculptural work. Assembled using found objects, the work presents an introspection on mortality. Manipulated to spell out the words ‘you will die’, the living pothos, is positioned on a temporary fencing panel, showing signs of rust and decay. The steel form, along with the pothos, are selected as physical manifestations of the cycle of life – forms that will process into new forms. The large-scale work is positioned to engage the viewer with their own relationship with death – addressing the universal experience of existing within a temporal body. Building off the artist’s previous explorations around psychedelic themes, and the loss of her father, the work speaks to Harding’s interest in the natural world, memento mori, universal connectedness, and that which lies beyond the physical.
As part of the artwork, participants could leave feedback – click HERE to view.
Death Arrangements
33 x 33 x 33 cm (approx), 2024
thrifted materials: fabric, thread, beads
audio (1:38 minutes looped)
Death Arrangements is a sculptural work with accompanying audio. 114 hand-constructed fabric flowers appear in a cube formation, alongside a looped audio component of the artist’s spoken word. Constructed from reclaimed fabrics, the mostly white flowers, void of bright colour, emulate blooms chosen in death, to display, gift, and lay on top of the dead. The use of fabric in the work creates a paradox, removing the natural impermanence of living flowers, to experiment with time and decay. The labour-intensive, repetitive stitch-work honours the joy of process and opposes craft as merely decorative. The work demonstrates the use of accessible materials and skills passed down through generations. Fabric (an inherent soft and tactile material) is further chosen to imitate the delicate and fragile form of flowers. The cube shape has been selected to represent Harding’s deceased father, a motif repeatedly used within her practice. The spoken word component, adds a further personal layer to the work. The backing sound was captured inside a decaying tree in the forest. The recording was made at the location of the last hike, Harding took with her father, before his death.
The making of and final documentation of the work – HERE
Everlasting Gold Top
110 x 150 cm Free-Standing Sculpture, 2023
Locally sourced bamboo poles, plywood, gold leaf, glazed ceramics
Winner of 3D Prize 40 under 40 Exhibition 2023
Constructed from bamboo, ply, and ceramics, Everlasting Gold Top, is a free-standing sculpture that viewers are encouraged to circumnavigate. Produced in an oversize scale, the mushroom aims to depict a novel and stylised manifestation of a psychedelic experience.
The sculpture makes reference to Psilocybe cubensis, a mushroom known for its psychoactive properties and distinctive gold-hued cap. A second reference pays homage to the everlasting gobstopper, featured in the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. In a nod to the film, the mushroom’s cap incorporates hand-sculpted ceramic decorations, comprised of seven motifs in seven colors. These motifs reintroduce symbols from prior work, exploring themes of paternal loss, ancestry, and birth.
The artist’s ongoing use of gold serves as both a reference point to the subject matter and a link between the physical and unseen world.
Communication
Multi-media work presented for AAA exhibition at Lantana Space, Caloundra 2023
Inkjet lustre print (A0), Bluegum wood stand (72 x 26 cm), Canson Aquarelle rag print (4×6), smoke detector, and wooden sculpture (48 x 19 cm); assorted wood, acrylic paint, gold leaf.
Communication is a multi-media artwork comprising of two photographs, a found object (smoke detector), and a hand-constructed wooden sculpture and stand. The autobiographical work aims to explore the idea of communication after death, with a direct link to the artist’s own personal loss of her father.
The large photo work, a self-portrait, displays the artist in a costume, suspended in mid-air. Photographed at Kureelpa, the site was chosen for its personal connection; the location of the last hike the artist took with her father and revisited on significant dates, as a means to reconnect. The costume, constructed using predominantly thrifted and accessible materials, is a stylised representation of the iconic, red and white, Amanita Muscaria mushroom. The amanita is used as a link to her German ancestry and a continuation of the exploration of psychedelic themes.
The stand, positioned beneath the self-portrait, holds three objects; a photo of the artist’s father in nature, a smoke detector, and a stylised wooden mushroom (Psilocybe cubensis). References to nature, electronic sound, and psychedelics are displayed as facilitators of connection between the physical and non-physical worlds.
Night Body
Filmed performance piece, Namba/Nambour, 2023
Single-channel video: 3:06 minutes (looped), colour, sound, 16:9
Score by Elijah Huckel
Shoot Assistance: Ben Hines
Winner of QRAA 2023 (Digital Art)
Night Body continues Harding’s exploration of psychedelics as a subject matter and was developed after the artist sighted a Mycena Chlorophos in her backyard at night. Filmed in the location of the sighting, Night Body presents the artist in a hand-constructed, mushroom-shaped costume, made from 660 hand-rolled ceramic beads and a cap painted in layers of glow-in-the-dark paint.
Night Body draws upon Bauhaus aesthetics at the intersection of visual art, design, craft, and performance. Through the mirroring and overlay of imagery, movement, and sound, Harding merges her identity with that of the fungus. The work is a celebration of nature intended to illicit conversations about the interconnectedness of the micro and macro Worlds.
MAKING OF DOCUMENTATION HERE
The Project was supported by The Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) which is a partnership between the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and Sunshine Coast Council through ArtsCoast to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
GOLDEN TEACHER
1.6 x 1.07 m Site-specific installation at Old Ambulanca Station
Hand-built ceramics, gold leaf, candles, and found objects
Presented for Horizon Festival 2023
Golden Teacher is an autobiographical, site-specific, sculptural installation. Golden tones and mushroom forms make reference to the Golden Teacher, a Psilocybe Cubensis mushroom, known for its psychoactive component.
Small, personal objects, are hand sculptured in unglazed porcelain. Objects include; an anthurium, passed down from the artist’s grandmother; a water bird and turtle for fertility; geometric shapes, representative of paternal loss; new moons of birth; and a coiled sleeping snake to embody the dichotomy between peace and fear. The six emanating ceramic floor rings are derived from personal visions.
Through employing Christian iconography (inspired in part by medieval art and references to Harding’s own religious upbringing) the work is centered around the search for something greater than the physical self.
NATURE SHELTER
1.2 x 2.7 m Immersive Installation
Bamboo Poles, Gold Leaf, Wool (thrifted), Wire, Pine Needles
Developed during Project 24 Residency, Namba/Nambour, 2023
Requiring participation from the public and experienced one viewer at a time, Nature Shelter experiments with sensory immersion to disrupt the everyday to create a temporal fantastic world, and offer space for solitude.
Locally sourced and hand-cut bamboo poles act to embed the viewer within the artist’s surrounding environment. As a conduit to the metaphysical, gold is used symbolically, linking the visible to the unseen and the physical to the unconscious, as part of an ongoing pursuit to translate the ineffable.
FINAL DOCUMENTATION HERE
MAKING OF DOCUMENTATION HERE
Project 24 is an initiative of ArtsCoast: Spaces for Creatives and funded by Sunshine Coast Council’s Arts & Heritage Levy
6 Planes Message Received
Filmed performance piece, Kabi Kabi Country/Sunshine Coast, 2022
Single-channel video: 5:16 minutes (looped), colour, sound, 16:9
Score by Elijah Huckel
On September 30th, 1922, the triadic ballet premiered in Stuttgart. Sculptural costumes, stylised movements, colour symbolism, and the boldness of the artist, not a dancer, to perform in a ballet, inspired a reimagining of Oskar Schlemmer’s visionary production, through Harding’s practice, 100 years later.
The work ‘6 planes message received’ is a filmed performance piece, 5:16 minutes in length with a score developed by musician Elijah Huckel.
The entire work took 74 hours to make and explores the question of how to visually articulate a transformative experience – a fusion of personal self into a larger whole, the idea of oneness.
MAKING OF DOCUMENTATION HERE
6 Planes Message Received was conceived and developed via The Path program, a Creative Development Intensive, designed and facilitated by Kellie O’Dempsey and supported by ArtsCoast, Sunshine Coast Council, and Noosa Council.
GOLD BENEATH
Painting Series, 2023
Watercolour, gold leaf on watercolour paper
A body of work, envisioned as an ongoing series of vivid watercolour paintings, interlaced with touches of gold leaf. The Gold Beneath series was inspired by a trip to Carnarvon Gorge and aims to show a reverence for the natural world, translating its living presence within painting form.
/Journal entry of the first showing/install of the Gold Beneath series HERE
Gold Beneath is supported by the Sunshine Coast Arts Foundation Gifted Program
All MUSHROOMS ARE MAGIC
Sculptural Installation
Found wood, acrylic paint, gold leaf, 2022
(Final work envisioned 6m x 3m)
An assemblage constructed from found wood, painted with pops of bright colours, alongside gold leaf, used as a symbol of divinity.
The hope is that the work is playful and shows reverence for nature, not only for psilocybin with its ‘magic’ title but the whole natural world.
All Mushrooms Are Magic was conceived and developed via The Path program, a Creative Development Intensive, designed and facilitated by Kellie O’Dempsey and supported by ArtsCoast, Sunshine Coast Council, and Noosa Council.
