Puawananga (Clematis) - 'The Nature of Surveillance'
laser cut stainless steel, etched and powder coated
edition 2/5
330 L x 200 W camera size 300 L (from wall) x 200 W base size, camera can move and pivot on base
$4,850 inc gst
As a recurrent theme in many of my sculptures, these works continue to explore ideas of times past and present. Specifically, New Zealand’s colonized past by early settlers, and a critique of what I refer to as ‘colonial thinking’. A prominently held view at the time, was that ‘the natural’ was at its best when ordered into patterns. For when nature is subdued in this manner, we can more easily claim dominion over it. In direct relation to the colonial surveying of land in New Zealand, the function of patterns - as they took form on a grid - was to enable the land to be managed by being mapped. The purpose of this was so the land could become a sellable commodity.
By their shape, ‘The Nature of Surveillance’ reveal themselves to be security cameras. Their form, however, is made by repeated patterns of indigenous flora and fauna. These pattern-forming organic motifs are similar in style to the patterned Victorian wallpaper of the times. They elude to the idea that, when in its range, we too, become a natural object moving through the cameras field of vision.
Please note for overseas buyers the NZ gst (tax) component can be deducted please get in touch here for a shipping quote
