Decision Time
Opaque plasticised material, wire frame, wooden stakes
This proposal for an ephemeral artwork relates to my recent activism even though ephemeral plastic is a contradiction in terms! Here I am examining two important contemporary aspects of water and have developed my artwork with these closely in mind. The intention is to create two conceptual poles to form a tension, presenting a paradox to the viewing public. The first alludes to the destruction of the watercycle as a result of irresponsible human activity – river pollution, irregular rainfall, ocean plastic. The second highlights water as agent for destruction, rising sea levels, flooding, storm damage. Within this I keep in mind the unpredictability of nature. I would like to stretch two almost invisible fishing lines across a narrow point of the River Dart (see photo mock up example taken from the Dartington Estate). One line 2.5m above the surface of the river water and the other at 1m, strung from camouflaged temporary wooden stakes either side of the bank. The two lines are tensioned across 25 metres. In between these two parallel invisible lines I attach shapes made out of a material which resembles plastic because of its colourless transparency. This material becomes more layered and therefore more opaque closer to the centre of the shape. These forms have been directly mapped from outlines of vulnerable atolls in the Oceans. The fragile transparent material has one surprising quality rendering it completely ephemeral….it is water soluble. Over the course of the exhibition the chances of rain are extremely high, with the result that the ethereal atolls may indeed disappear – nature will decide.