Breaking point, 2022

Porcelain with rice carbon burnouts, illuminated with LED lights

Variable dimensions

I would like to acknowledge this work was developed and created on Kaurna Country. I also acknowledge the Barngarla people are the traditional owners of the Whalers Way area, the environment which inspires this work.

 

Location: DB7-07

 

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Breaking point is a ceramic installation which explores feelings of distress, concern and hope. These ideas fall under the concept of solastalgia, a term coined by philosopher Glenn A. Albrecht to describe ‘the lived experience of negative environmental change.’

 

I underwent my own experience of solastalgia this year, witnessing the environment connected to my childhood face threat from development. The pristine and fragile coastline of Whalers Way is located on the lower Eyre Peninsula, within the traditional lands of the Barngarla people. Southern Launch have proposed the Orbital Rocket Launch Complex, a permanent space industry facility, for the site. I hold grave concerns for the future of the Whalers Way environment, as the launch site threatens to upset the balance of the delicate ecosystem. Slow growing semi-arid zones surrounding the area are prone to loss of vegetation and erosion, with potential disturbance to wildlife both above and below the sea.

 

My installation visually represents my solastalgic experiences, the extremely delicate nature of the ceramic forms mirrors the vulnerability of my local environment, and the light penetrating through the cracks symbolises hope for the protection of Whalers Way.