Exhibition Statement 

As environmental threats become the major concern for global populations, Tides explores the need to respond to and recognize the growing anthropogenic humanitarian crises of displacement due to climate change. Through ceramic and mixed media surrealist dioramas and sculptural installations, Tides explores the unprecedented scale and impact of climate change and creates opportunity to examine the responsibility of engagement and compassionate action.

The ceramic and mixed media installation works use imagery from the natural world in unexpected ways. In dream-like compositions, the viewer gains the perspective of a sea bird uniting the world with their global range. Large hybrid human frogs in watery surroundings make the viewer present to the sensitive permeability of their own skin. While asleep and dreaming, humans enter a state of limitlessness and natural equality and so can access the possibilities and hope inherent in that state. The viewer is invited to explore and dream.

The vessel is a central image form in the artist’s visual language and in this exhibition the vessel is abstracted to different, sometimes contrasting meanings. The vessel is a boat that is symbolic of the peril of displacement, but also is a place of safety, a bed which signifies comfort and security. The image of the bed then becomes a vehicle to a dream-state where human connectedness and equality can be imagined. This body of work draws on the research of Professor Daiva Stasiulis in the field of climate-displaced peoples through the lens of socio-historical inequality.

The exhibition Tides focuses on the intersection of two major themes: climate change resulting from human activity, and the humanitarian crisis that human-made climate change has produced.