Seahorse

Full description

Background: In his 2022 book, “Ways of Being”, artist and writer James Bridle points out a paradox; just as the animals, plants, and natural systems we share the planet with are revealing their complex intelligence, human technologies are threatening their extinction. Like other contemporary artists (including Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg) my work uses 3D computer animation to visually explore this paradox and draw attention to nonhuman animals and their worlds.

Contribution: “Seahorse” is a 5-minute 3D computer animated video inspired by two Australian species, the White’s seahorse and the Potbellied seahorse. Created in collaboration with contemporary sculptor, Mikala Dwyer, Seahorse was exhibited as part of “Penelope and the Seahorse”, an installation by Dwyer at Chau Chak Wing Museum, March to November 2023. Projected onto a hologauze screen, the Seahorse video has a ghostly quality enhanced by animation artifacts which strategically interrupt the representational illusion. This work is a poetic response to issues regarding animals, humans, technology, and the natural environment. Like a ghost from the future, Seahorse prompts the question, will you miss me when I’m gone?

Significance: The Chau Chak Wing Museum is a prestigious museum of art located at the University of Sydney, Australia. It houses several permanent collections and holds contemporary exhibitions reviewed by prestigious curators. Seahorse was exhibited as part of a show curated by Dr Toni Ross, Honorary Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney, and reviewer for Artforum magazine. Seahorse was an opportunity for me to collaborate with, Mikala Dwyer, one of Australia’s most significant innovators in sculpture, performance, and installation.