Residual Narratives

Repurposed MDF, nails, single-use plastic, spray paint

Off Cuttings explores the cross-pollination between synthetic materials and the natural world, reimagining plastic waste as the foundation for a reinvented landscape.

The work’s ‘clippings’ are created from leftover fragments of a previous project, Kōwhai Grove. Through a repetitive process of cutting and heat-shaping single-use plastics, the artist uncovers the material’s surprising versatility. While each piece may begin as a duplicate, the application of heat causes subtle distortions, echoing the irregularity and individuality of organic forms.

By propagating new work from materials often dismissed as waste, the artist seeks to foster a more sustainable creative practice, one that challenges how we define and value waste.

Grouped en masse, the plastic clippings interact in conversation with one another, forming a synthetic field that evokes natural beauty while simultaneously confronting viewers with the scale of the plastic crisis.

Exhibitions
Morsel, (RE:USE Collective), Easel Gallery, Auckland 2023
Earth Matters, (RE:USE Collective), Arthaus Contemporary, Auckland 2022

Polymorph, Plastic Debris, Basalt Rock, Tillandsia Latifolia, LED Light.

At once a ghostly buoy and a boulder formed from the detritus of our time, Plastisphere gives form to a planet under pressure. Its surface, layered with basalt, bioplastic and debris, evokes a geological cross-section, where plastic permeates the earth and human impact sediments into tomorrow’s geology.

Cracks between embedded rocks ooze bioplastic laden with debris, referencing the formation of anthropo-plastic rocks - unnatural geologies born from human activity. Tillandsia Latifolia, emerges from crevices, symbolising both resilience and fragility. In holding both plastic and plant, the work becomes a speculative terrarium - a microcosm of our ecological crossroads.
Placed on the ground, it encourages viewers to crouch down and look closely, mirroring the act of searching for microplastics. Fragments pierce the biodegradable shell, lit from within to reveal what is often hidden. The work asks us to reflect on the traces we leave behind.

Coffee cups, wire

A process of playful experimentation allowed the discovery of the inherent physical characteristics of these locally sourced, everyday objects and determined how they may fit together. While embracing a methodical system of fastening allowed the form and scale of the assemblage to metamorphose.

A biomorphic form and pattern have been employed in this work as a reference to the contoured, patterned or textured arrangements that persist in nature. While our brains know these forms and patterns are not living things, they may be associated as symbolic representations of life.

Commissioned by The Auckland Coffee Festival for their new initiative The Coffee Art Project to re-use excess supplies from their previous festival in order to generate thought provoking art to feature at their latest festival.

Exhibitions
Juried Exhibition, Arthaus Projects, Williamsport, Pennsylvania 2019
Auckland Coffee Festival, Auckland 2017