Australia Council for the Arts – Project Grant: Support Material
Artist: Cara-Ann Simpson
Project title: Development and presentation of multisensory exhibition – Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
Project #1: Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) currently has around 50 finished still images, and three moving-image artworks. The provided works demonstrate the quality, aesthetic and overarching themes of the series that will be extended through a multisensory approach under this grant.
Each work features a spectrograph, the visual analysis of soundwaves. In the moving-image work this is a field recording composition of the location where the plant came from. In the still images, the spectrograph is a recording of myself pronouncing the Latin title.
To view more of the series visit: https://caraannsimpson.com/works/furari-flores/
narratio regenerationis (the narrative of rebirth) 2022 – EXCERPT
video (duration 5:48)
Winner: Heysen Prize for Landscape 2022 (Hahndorf Academy SA)
Finalist: Burrinja Climate Change Biennale Award 2022 (Burrinja Cultural Centre VIC)
This work features an acacia (wattle), which are soil nitrogen-fixers, and in my region they are often the first trees to re-establish growth in disturbed areas. They create opportunity for other indigenous species to flourish once more. This work celebrates regeneration, and pays homage to the vital part that acacia’s play in Australia’s diverse eco-systems.
This is the first moving-image extension of Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers).
spiritus terrae leniter et quieter cadit (the spirit of the earth falls gently and quietly) 2023 – EXCERPT
video (duration 6:03)
Hovea lorata flowers emit the most ethereal fragrance of creamy violets and an intangible mystique that spreads through the dry eucalyptus forest on my family’s farm in southern Queensland. In flower, Hovea are purple clouds floating amongst the grey, green and brown bushland, turning the landscape into something Other. Here, they represent the spirit of the earth, surviving against the odds, yet when you back is turned small pieces have fallen, gently and quietly, to return to the earth. A reminder of our earth’s fierce regenerative spirit that is now falling and failing under humanity’s pursuit of progress and capitalism.
scuto protectoris nostri coronati (nam Eddie) (crowned with the shield of our protector [for Eddie]) 2022
pigment print, 156 x 156 cm
plant: pink flowering ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon Rosea)
Finalist: Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize 2022 (Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre NSW)
The grief that comes from the earthly reality of a life’s end tears apart the incorporeal self. A catalyst of disruption shaping and changing future paths. The botanical circlet dates back millennia symbolising peace, honour and power, while the ironbark reflects an iron will, beauty, strength, and connection to place. Eddie, as his name suggested was our guardian and a wealth of love. Soaring above and shielding beneath is a spectrograph of the title spoke in Latin.
cadere in amore cum anima terrae III (to fall in love with the soul of the earth III) 2021
pigment print, 76 x 76 cm
plant: coral gum (Eucalyptus torquata)
Finalist: Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize 2022 (Ravenswood School for Girls NSW)
Sunshine Coast Art Award 2021 (Caloundra Regional Gallery QLD)
This work is a cloak, or perhaps a shroud. It holds power, and evokes truths that I cannot verbalise. I fell in love again with the soul of the earth, drinking in these moments, this tree.
medicinae crescente de terra I (medicine growing from our earth I) 2021
pigment print, 76 x 76 cm
plant: Gumbi Gumbi (pittosporum angustifolium)
Finalist: Queensland Regional Art Awards 2021 (Flying Arts Alliance QLD)
This work is a celebration of returning to heart’s home: the joy, fulfilment and healing nature of place. Here I am grounded, deeply connected to the earth and sky. Gumbi Gumbi is a medicinal plant that grow across many parts of Australia.
aures repleti bombacio: de realis fantasy quaerimus II (ears filled with cotton: seeking the real fantasy II) 2020
pigment print, 76 x 76 cm
plant: cottonwood hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus rubra)
Finalist: Du Rietz Art Awards 2022 (Gympie Regional Gallery QLD)
Stanthorpe Photography Award 2021 (Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery QLD)
Scent terrarium mockup 2022
Mock-up for scent/olfactory installation using the concept of ‘Wardian cases’. Wardian cases were used in the early days of settlement to import and export plants between the Kew Botanic Gardens and what are now the botanic gardens of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne. The tops of each ‘scent terrarium’ will feature a mirror infinity box with LED lighting and either a dried specimen, or an image printed to one surface. Below this will be a scent tray, each with a different scent responding to one (or more) of the visual artworks and sound compositions. The LEDs will operate off deep cycle batteries that can be charged overnight, meaning the boxes are self-sufficient and without external wires during public hours.
These objects are open for further development, including exploring the possibility of 3D printing with environmentally sustainable filament.
Project #2: Geo Sound Helmets
Geo Sound Helmets provides an example of previously developed sculptural installation practice that will influence the extension of Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers).
Geo Sound Helmets 2011
Technical team: Dr Eva Cheng, Ben Landau & Dr James Laird
breath-controlled interactive installation
Image: Emily Hlavac-Green
Read more: https://caraannsimpson.com/text/anabelle-lacroix-listeners-are-creators/
Project #3: Noise Cancellation: disrupting audio perception
Noise Cancellation: disrupting audio perception provides an example of previously developed sculptural speakers and installation practice that will influence the extension of Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers).
Noise Cancellation: disrupting audio perception 2009-10
Technical team: Dr Eva Cheng
open-air active noise cancellation installation using live sound from the street below, as well as audio from the gallery.
Noise Cancellation: disrupting audio perception experimented with open-air active noise cancellation (i.e., creating silence by project sound at itself). The installation engaged with the differentiation between ‘listening’ and ‘hearing’, and the realisation that we never experience true silence. Visitors were invited to participate to find the ‘silent cone’, but to also play with the microphones in the gallery and on the street below – interacting with each other and the external world.
Read more: https://caraannsimpson.com/text/dr-kyle-jenkins-the-act-of-things/
Project #4: Bundoora Homestead: a sonic landscape
Bundoora Homestead: a sonic landscape provides an example of previously developed sculptural speakers and installation practice that will influence the extension of Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers). See more: https://caraannsimpson.com/works/installation/bundoorahomestead-soniclandscape/
Bundoora Homestead: a sonic landscape 2010
6-channel surround sound installation (duration 03:41:51) with hand-made speakers, light-boxes, paintings, drawings
Exhibition: Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne
Bundoora Homestead: a sonic landscape was a site-specific installation created in response to the architecture, aural resonations, and history of the historic homestead.