Arboreal (2006)

This collaborative work with the artist/academic Lucy Hawthorne explores the contradictions and paradoxes that can result from the desire to be close to nature while maintaining access to life’s contemporary conveniences. The Hobart Rivulet represents an opportunistic location to explore interactions between the built and natural environment, as its presence permits an avenue of vegetation to pierce suburban development. As a site-specific installation Arboreal references the architectural features of nearby buildings; development that encroaches on this narrow strip of green recreational space. As such, Arboreal's structures reflect qualities of the surrounding development, while the tethering to trees imply an innate, though frequently unacknowledged, connection between the built and natural. Despite the small scale of Arboreal’s architectonic elements their colour and linearity cause them to standout prominently, a reminder of how even minor artificial features can significantly alter the visual qualities of a natural setting.