Saplings

5 artists in an exhibition titled 'saplings' curated by Emma Pinsent.

• Anna May Kirk

• Tamara Marrington

• Chrystal Rimmer

• Catriona Secker

• Rebecca Selleck 

Saplings are not stagnant. By their very definition, saplings are dynamic — growing, branching out and forming connections. It’s a fitting title, really. It allows the encompassment of everything that this exhibition lends itself to; acting as a springboard to explore ideas relating to the Anthropocene, natural and social history, biology, ecology, climate change, memory, innocence, and birth and death.

Many of the artists mentioned the strange parallels that were drawn between their lives and the concept of saplings in the lead up to this exhibition. It’s not surprising, as all five artists; Rebecca Selleck, Tamara Marrington, Catriona Secker, Chrystal Rimmer and Anna May Kirk; deal with notions relating to the natural world in some way or another, and artists are, by nature, contextually responsive.

Nevertheless, I think it is an important point to note. We exist by virtue of the natural world — a world perfectly climatised for the actuation of life. Inevitably, one should assume that of course, parallels would be drawn between the artists and the notion of saplings — one cannot be separated from the other. Paul Adams, in his article Placing the Anthropocene: a day in the life of an enviro-organism (2015), puts this nicely — referring to this symbiotic relationship as an “ecological consciousness”. 

Excerpt from the exhibition essay by Emma Pinsent.

Opening Thursday 22 April. 6-8pm