life.formed: Shapes of non-human ecologies

About

As we close a tumultuous 2019 and head into a new decade artists Saroj Patel and Becky Lyon present hopeful visions of alternative ecologies. ‘Hope’ centres around a perceived resilience inherent in more-than-human nature and its enduring existence independent of humanity. Saroj presents an iteration of Taraxa asking the viewer to reimagine our relationship with nature in our urban environments by thrusting a community of unseen organisms into full view via abundant bursts of colour and form, requesting active participation. Becky presents an iteration of Fieldnotes from a Technobiocology, a suite of organisms that have evolved from the enmeshing biology and technology, artefacts of humanity, situated in an imagined, undated ‘future’. 

Both artists deploy sculpture and form in signature ways with Saroj’s plush almost playful modules richly coloured, abundant and in full growth contrasting with Becky’s stripped back colour and complex materiality - discrete elements of dazzle and experimental texture are animated with digital media representing a slow but steady emerging and unfurling. Themes of ecology, systems, the non-human, evolution and mutation unify the two bodies of work. Reconciling the distinctive aesthetics of each, the two artists will deploy an experimental approach to curation where some sculptures evidence the early stages of tethering, finding familiarity and others start to competitively colonise, or even mate... The beings are re-contextualised, finding purpose, place and survival in a new environment.