Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
accessible digital exhibition
Enter a world of multisensory botanical magic and join the artist on a journey of deep listening, Earth admiration and plant love.
Furari Flores is the name of this digital art show. It means Stealing Flowers.
Cara-Ann Simpson is an artist. She made the art for this show.
The show celebrates plants. You can use different sense to enjoy the art. You can see and hear it online.
The art show is multisensory.
You can listen to stories about the art and show by clicking on PLAY ▶︎ buttons below.
Thanks for visiting Furari Flores
Thanks for visiting Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers), my multisensory touring exhibition. My name is Cara-Ann Simpson and I am the artist behind these works. I will also be the audio guide narrator for this exhibition.
canticum argenteum wattle (song of the silver wattle)
2023
design
60.0 x 60.0cm
Plant: Acacia podalyriifolia (Queensland silver wattle)
Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the first people and original storytellers of this nation. To Elders past, present, emerging and future, I pay my respects. I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, water and skies throughout Australia, including those where I live, work and journey. I acknowledge Country as my guide, protector and provider.
I acknowledge the cultural diversity of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and celebrate their continued living cultures. I honour the continuous connection and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to Country, community and culture. Sovereignty has never been ceded. This land always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
About Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
Enter a world of multisensory botanical magic and join me, Cara-Ann Simpson, on a journey of deep listening, Earth admiration and plant love.
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) grew from my experience with serious illness and life-changing diagnoses. This project shares my story of living with disability explored as a relationship with plants and place. The project explores the expanded themes of storytelling, health and wellbeing, voice, home, data visualisation, plant histories and symbiotic relationships.
The Latin titles of these artwork link to the ongoing use of Latin taxonomies in contemporary sciences, including the fields of medicine and botany. I recognise the irony in the continued use of a so-called ‘dead’ language within fields dedicated to life and regeneration. Latin also evokes a sense of poetry, rich with emotive symbolism.
Furari Flores incorporates spectrography, which is the visual analysis of soundwaves. In the video works, the spectrographs correspond in real-time to field-recording compositions created from the plant’s site.
To learn more about Furari Flores or myself, visit: https://caraannsimpson.com/
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
2023
dye-sublimation on aluminium
140.0 x 100.0cm
Plant: garden bouquet
The flowers in this beautiful bouquet come from my parent’s expansive garden on the lands of the Wakka Wakka nation. When my parent’s bought the property over 40-years ago, it had a single hoop pine within a small house yard. Now the garden expands over around eight acres. It is filled with a variety of plant species from around the world, including many Australian plants.
This artwork celebrates my parent’s dedication to nurturing plants and creating a garden, but it is also a summation of the Furari Flores project. It signals the deep connection to place that exists through plants and identity.
FOR KIDS
This artwork celebrates my parent’s garden. They have spent over 40 years making a huge garden. They filled it with Australian plants and plants from all over the world. It has many of my favourite plants and flowers.
What is your favourite plant or flower? Have you ever grown a plant?
fragili vanitatem mortis (the fragile vanity of death)
2020
pigment print on Ilford gold fibre gloss rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Grevillea sp. (yellow grevillea)
In 2017, I went through living-death, where my body was a battleground. My immune system waged war on its friends, its allies. Following a several-month hospital stay, doctors found I had a severe brain infection. I was subsequently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and neurosarcoidosis, both are neurodegenerative.
My new life began in 2018, emerging from that living-death. I was a fragile, vulnerable thing – not quite human, not quite nothing. In my beginning, I fumbled, stumbled and bled sorrow over the life I had lost, grieving my death. There is a vanity that coexists with death, but the reality is rather different. The grief that comes from a self’s loss is unique in its misery and expansiveness. It leaves no room for vanity. That grief is at odds with society, unknowable by any but those who have experienced it.
These experiences led me to look outward, towards nature. In bringing that back to death, I now see death’s potential for new life, and how it supports others. I began this work in 2018 as I started my new life. My body felt like a shell. It was not mine, nor was my mind the one I knew. I sought to make sense of the world. I found that flowers and plants could build a soul and understood death as part of a living, evolving cycle.
I vaguely recall taking the yellow grevillea from a neighbour’s garden in Pakenham (Victoria), where Michael and I lived after my hospital discharge. My ongoing physical rehabilitation involved walking and learning to move through pain and fatigue. It felt like a new purgatory, but I was unsure of my sins. In those years, 2018-19, I had constant nerve pain, like centipedes running up and down my spine, into my limbs and across my face. This work represents the sharp pain of my nervous system fighting against body and mind. This keystone work is a summation of my journey through living-death to a new life that started by stealing flowers for my rehabilitation and rebirth.
FOR KIDS
I was in hospital for a long time. Plants and flowers helped me recover. I thought about how my illness is part of my life cycle.
There are different life cycles. Some are about one species, like how a plant reproduces. Some are more complex, like how dead leaves and flowers fall off plants and become mulch. Mulch helps plants and other organisms live.
Can you think of a life cycle? What stages does it include?
Spectrographs
Throughout this exhibition, you will see coloured lines and shapes. Most of these come from aural spectrographs. An aural spectrograph is a visual representation of audio data. Before I manipulate them to work with each artwork, they tell us specific things. Spectrographs share duration, frequency and amplitude.
Duration, or time, moves from the left to the right in a linear way.
Frequency tells us how high or low the pitch is. The vertical axis represents frequency, starting with the lowest pitches at the bottom and moving to the highest pitches at the top of the graph. For example, a tractor is usually a lower pitch (rumbling), and birdsong is often a higher pitch.
Amplitude is the decibel range, which tells us how loud or soft the sound is. Colour intensity represents amplitude. The darkest areas are the quietest, while the brightest areas are the loudest.
In the framed artworks, I used spectrographs of my voice pronouncing the artwork’s title in Latin. The video artworks with sound use moving spectrographs that respond in real-time to the field-recording compositions I have made. Each composition is from the site where that plant grows. In these works, you can see the sound of bird calls, wind, footsteps and distant cars.
Spectrography lets me visualise our auditory sense through data visualisation. I have incorporated spectrographs in my practice for over 20 years. It is a language I now understand and read. Spectrography allows me to understand the landscape differently.
vita, ut flores, revertetur ad terram (life, like flowers, return to earth)
2020
pigment print on Ilford gold fibre gloss rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Calodendrum capense (cape chestnut)
I listen to the depth of the earth–
The deep slow breaths and cyclic patterns
That happen beneath the surface underfoot
And in the centre of our souls.
hoc est pulchritudinem – ac interitus et exitium (this is the beauty – their destruction and decay)
2020
pigment print on Ilford gold fibre gloss rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Rosa sp. (pink rose)
audite abyssi I (listen to the deep I)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Mansoa alliaceum (garlic vine)
summa prospectum ex inferno itur (the view from the top is the path to hell)
2019
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
40.0 x 40.0cm
Plant: Rosa sp. (pink rose)
societatem ab intus putrescit (society rots from the inside)
2019
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
40.0 x 40.0cm
Plant: Rosa sp. (yellow rose)
deflorationis fides tua virtus (deflowering faith by your virtue)
2019
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
40.0 x 40.0cm
Plant: Justicia carnea (Brazilian plume)
![decadentium ad mortem (de rubrum) [decadence to your death (of red)] 2019<br />
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag</p>
<p>Plant: Rosa sp. (red rose)](https://i0.wp.com/caraannsimpson.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/08-decadentium-ad-mortem-de-rubrum.jpg?resize=1080%2C1080&ssl=1 "decadentium ad mortem (de rubrum) [decadence to your death (of red)] 2019")
decadentium ad mortem (de rubrum) [decadence to your death (of red)]
2019
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
40.0 x 40.0cm
Plant: Rosa sp. (red rose)
societatum – repercussio est amoris personalis interitus III (society – a reflection of personal destruction III)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
40.0 x 40.0cm
Plant: Brachychiton sp. (bottletree)
cadere in amore cum anima terrae II (to fall in love with the soul of the earth II)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
40.0 x 40.0cm
Plant: Eucalyptus torquata (coral gum)
spiritus terrae II (breath of the earth II)
2023
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
120.0 x 120.0cm
Plant: Hovea lorata (hovea/purple pea bush)
Spiritus
I love the Latin word ‘spiritus’. It has the dual meaning of ‘spirit’ and ‘breath’. It hits me hard in the chest, resonating with the truth of those two things being agreeable to the same term. Hovea lorata speaks to me of the Earth’s spiritus. In late winter, after the first flush of warmth, they bloom like a lung expanding with air, or a physical presence of the Earth’s spirit. They grow under the canopy of tall spotted gums, Corymbia citriodora subsp variegata.
Here, hovea represent the Earth’s spirit and breath. They survive against the odds, yet when your back is turned small pieces have fallen, gently and quietly, to return to earth.
FOR KIDS
This plant is called hovea or purple pea bush. It grows on my family farm. It tries to grow even when things are hard, and there has not been much rain. Hovea flower in winter, sometimes only for a few days. This artwork is about how the Earth always fights hard to survive. I use hovea as a metaphor for this idea.
I use Latin words in my artwork titles. I sometimes use the Latin word, ‘spiritus’. It means both ‘spirit’ and ‘breath’. I love this word because it has two meanings.
Can you think of any words that mean different things?
spiritus terrae leniter et quiete cadit (the spirit of the earth falls gently and quietly)
2023
single-channel video with stereo sound, 6:02 min
Plant: Hovea lorata (hovea/purple pea bush)
spiritus terrae vitam (breathing earth’s life)
2023
custom scent, nebuliser, recycled PLA filament, LED lights, powerbank, corncob grit and glass bowl
Scent: Hovea lorata (hovea/purple pea bush) reconstruction with dry sclerophyll forest characterics and decayed bark.
Hovea lorata flowers emit an ethereal fragrance of creamy violets and lilacs. They have an intangible mystique that spreads through the dry sclerophyll forest. In bloom, hovea are purple clouds floating amongst the grey, green, brown and orange bushland; turning the landscape into something Other.
FOR KIDS
If you visit my show in real life, you can smell this artwork! It smells like hovea flowers.
Some things change the way they smell, depending on how old they are. The scent in the glass ball is liquid. This helps the scent smell fresh. The corn cob grit dries the scent, so it smells older.
Can you think of a fruit that smells differently when it is unripe, ripe, or rotten? What is another item with a changing smell?
procidens in sui reflexionis (falling into self-reflection)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
300.0 x 250.0cm
Plant: Hibiscus tiliaceus Rubra (red cottonwood tree)
confluentes animarum (confluence of souls)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
300.0 x 130.0cm
Plant: Acacia conferta (crowded-leaf wattle)
![scuto protectoris nostri coronati (nam Eddie) [crowned with the shield of our protector (for Eddie)] 2022<br />
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag</p>
<p>Plant: Eucalyptus sideroxylon Rosea (pink-flowering iron bark)](https://i0.wp.com/caraannsimpson.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/13-scuto-protectoris-nostri-coronati-nam-Eddie.jpg?resize=1080%2C1080&ssl=1 "scuto protectoris nostri coronati (nam Eddie) [crowned with the shield of our protector (for Eddie)] 2022")
scuto protectoris nostri coronati (nam Eddie) [crowned with the shield of our protector (for Eddie)]
2022
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
120.0 x 120.0cm
Plant: Eucalyptus sideroxylon Rosea (pink-flowering iron bark)
This work, made in the aftermath of death, is that fierce grip of the ephemeral beauty of life and the evasion of fleeting memories. Here, in this murky mire, I linger between grief, remembrance, and a changed future.
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 Latin title.
Dr Louise Martin-Chew says that this work:
‘uses the image of Eucalyptus sideroxylon rosea (pink-flowering ironbark) to memorialise and remember Simpson’s dog Eddie, whose face is captured with ghostly subtlety within the wreath…. The preciously ephemeral nature of life, represented by the tendrils of leaves and flowers, contrasts with the straightness of the spectrograph lines and blackness behind.’
Excerpt from Dr Louise Martin-Chew (2023), ‘Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)’, in Martin-Chew, L. et al, Furari Flores. Haden: Cara-Ann Simpson, p. 14.
FOR KIDS
This artwork uses pink-flowering ironbark. It is an Australian tree. I made the artwork to remember my dog, Eddie, who passed away. Can you see Eddie’s face in the middle of the artwork?
I used photos of the ironbark to make the shape of a wreath or circlet. Wreaths can be used to remember loved ones. Botanical circlets were first used thousands of years ago and worn on the head. When circlets were worn, they often meant peace, honour and power.
What flowers or plants would you use to make a circlet?
ubi occurrit terra in lacrimas kosmos (where the earth meets the tears of the cosmos)
2023
custom scent, nebuliser, rustable iron PLA filament, clay-waste PLA filament, red gravel rocks, corncob grit and glass bowl
Scent: Petrichor (rain on earth) with eucalyptus forest, fungi, ozone, Ozothamnus diosmifolius (rice flower) reconstruction, mulch and iron gravel aspects.
This scent sculpture pays homage to my home and its unique petrichor. My home has red, iron-rich soil and rock, which grows forests of spotted gum, hovea, wattle and myriad other plant species. Here, I am fully immersed in the site’s sensory world.
Petrichor, the smell of rain on earth, is unique to its site. Geosmin, produced by Streptomyces bacteria, creates the distinct smell. When rain hits the earth, droplets atomise scent molecules retained in soil, allowing petrichor to rise as mist. Other scent chemicals mingle with it, including aromatic eucalyptus oils, decaying mulch, and iron. I used iron- and red clay-based filaments to print rocks responding to the site’s geological and chemical composition.
FOR KIDS
If you visit this show in real life you can smell this artwork!
The scent in this artwork is ‘petrichor’. Petrichor is the smell that happens when rain falls on dry soil, concrete or roads. The surface that the rain hits changes the smell. Have you smelled rain?
Bacteria release a chemical that creates petrichor. Soil, concrete and bitumen are all home to these bacteria.
Did you know that some bacteria types are very important for life?
carpe omnia, sed relinquo nihil (seize everything, but leave nothing)
2020
pigment print on Ilford gold fibre gloss rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Banksia praemorsa (cut leaf banksia)
sicut formicae desperanter laboraverunt ad mortem (as ants work desperately towards death)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Banksia integrifolia (coastal banksia)
Anatomy of a voice
Cat Jones says of these works:
‘Where others might see wreaths of grief…, I see the anatomy of vocal folds, pictured from above, inside the throat. From between the chords, sounds and notes emanate with the breath-like transparencies of spectrographs. Bird song flies through these arrangements suggesting specific multi-species relationships, but also making me imagine Simpson, learning to talk again as part of her recovery. Perhaps these images are asking when will the land, the Country, recover its voice?’
Excerpt from Cat Jones (2023), ‘Reaggragating a Body’, in Martin-Chew, L. et al, Furari Flores. Haden: Cara-Ann Simpson, p. 35.
FOR KIDS
The centres of these three artworks look a bit like the inside of your throat. This is called the vocal chords or vocal folds. It is where your body makes your voice.
These artworks are about finding your voice, and speaking up. Like when I was sick and had to learn how to talk again. I thought this was similar to how the Earth finds it hard to tell us what it needs. Sometimes the Earth can tell us things by the way it behaves. Such as through climate change or through the health of forests and soil. How do you think the Earth tells us things?
Have you ever had to be brave and speak up for yourself, or someone else? How did that make you feel?
mutantur narrationis exsequitur, tua veritas I (changing the narrative, into your truth I)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Eucalyptus platypus (round-leaved moort)
As we navigate a way into an unknown future, we have an endless opportunity to look back. To see the past with present eyes, understand it anew, and find our truths. So often this means changing a narrative already committed to writing. Fighting against text that is accepted, endorsed and taught. Challenging the accepted is a far more difficult task than writing an acceptable version of events for the very first time.
FOR KIDS
This artwork is about how hard it is to write history correctly. This is because different people experience events in different ways.
Can you think of a time when you experienced something differently to your friends or family?
How would you tell the story?
Would it be different to how someone else told the story?
Invasive, Pervasive
There are a few artworks dedicated to persuasive and pervasive plant invaders. Curiously, many of these featured species are associated with mythology, witchcraft, and spirituality. This was not a conscious intention, only revealing itself after further research. Humans are the primary source of these plants’ introduction to the Australian landscape. Plants themselves cannot relocate continent to continent. They are reliant on animals, weather and humans.
FOR KIDS
These artworks are about plants that have become pests in Australia. They were brought to Australia from other places. They now grow in bushland where they cause problems. Can you think of pest plants that should not grow in bushland? What problems can plants create when they grow where they shouldn’t?
Some of these pest plants have been used by different cultures. They can be linked to myths, witchcraft, spirituality or food.
Do you know any plants that are used in your culture?
What are they used for?
ubi aqua vita – colligentes Lotophagos (where there is water there is life – Lotophagi gather)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Nymphaea caerulea (sacred blue lotus)
This work features the water lily, sacred blue lotus, that has naturalised across eastern Australian coastal regions. I draw upon the Greek mythology of lotus-eaters, immortalised in Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. The sailors no longer wished to return to their lives of labour after eating lotus fruit. Blissful forgetfulness overcomes them, as they want to be like the Lotophagi who inhabit the island.
The Lotophagi mythology has long fascinated me. Lotophagi, historically thought to be foolish and unproductive, found their lives fulfilling. They do not seek to break ground, make discoveries, or yearn for accomplishment. For me, there is a lesson to find joy in the surrounding world, and to be present to the Earth’s quiet gifts.
FOR KIDS
This artwork is about an old Greek story about people who ate the lotus fruit. They were called Lotophagi. The toxin in the fruit made the lotus eaters forget about their lives. They were happy to do nothing.
This artwork is also about finding happiness where you are, and finding joy in the natural world.
What makes you happy? How would you show that in an artwork?
spatia in inter – silentium est I (in the spaces between – silence is found I)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Datura stramonium (datura/devil’s snare)
This work incorporates a Datura stramonium seedpod. It was lying on a rural hill, resting and filled with black pearly seeds. Datura is noxious and poisonous to people and many animals. It is, however, majestic and saturated with power. I see the potential life-force that lies waiting for activation. The seeds sit inside the spiked seedpod, resting until that moment. There is a silence in that space filled with busyness. Sitting on the precipice, ready and poised for action.
FOR KIDS
This plant is called devil’s snare or datura. In Australia, it is a pest species. This plant is highly toxic. Do not touch it with bare hands or smell it.
I found the devil’s snare seedpod on a hill. Black, pearly seeds filled it. When I photographed it, I thought it was very powerful. Each seed could grow a new plant. But until then, the seeds sat silently in the seedpod. They were waiting for the right moment to grow.
Have you ever grown a plant from a seed? What does it look like when it first grows?
toxicus ossa (toxic bones)
2023
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Lycium ferocissimum (African boxthorn)
Featuring moth-like wings made from African boxthorn, this work drips colour from the photographic image through an ethereal aural spectrograph. Like many of my works, this work uses geometry within its composition.
Kyle Jenkins says:
‘Cara-Ann’s photographic images compositionally move out but are always looking back in, in a process of back and forth, drawing the viewer to roam and return within the composition that captures erosion in stasis, and multiplicity within the singular.’
FOR KIDS
This plant is African boxthorn. In Australia it is a pest species. It is toxic and has large sharp spikes. You should not touch it with bare hands. African boxthorn grows in a geometric pattern.
There are many geometric patterns in nature. Like when you drop a small rock into a pond and the water ripples. Or the circles that grow inside tree trunks.
What other geometric patterns have you seen in nature?
ubique invasores (pervasive invaders)
2023
custom scent, nebuliser, wheat-waste PLA filament, beer-waste PLA filament, recycled natural PLA filament, LED lights, powerbank and corncob grit
Scent: Lantana camera (lantana) reconstruction, Datura stramonium (datura/devil’s snare) reconstruction, Tagetes minuta (stinking Roger) with grassy, vegetal and wet earth aspects.
This scent blends invasive inland plants with rural farmland aspects. The scent reminds me of walking through rural paddocks in the early morning, when the dew activates the soil’s smell, and I brush past the aromatic, slightly cat-pee scent of lantana, and the rank-vegetal odour of datura leaves.
The Wardian case inspired the sculptural form, drawing upon British Empire transportation history. The Wardian case is responsible for the dispersal of many plants across the Earth, with positive and negative consequences. For example, consider the positive value of food crops and their ability to establish and feed communities. Or, the cultural and educational value of ornamental species in household and botanic gardens. Conversely, consider the unknown consequences of bringing plants and soil to new ecologies. Consider the detrimental impact of lantana and African boxthorn in regional Queensland. Or, the devastating effect that African tulip trees have on the native stingless bee population. And the accelerating spread of fire ants in Australia.
FOR KIDS
This artwork is about weeds that grow near my home. Not all the real weeds are safe to smell. BUT it is safe to smell this artwork if you visit my show in real life!
This artwork is also about how something can be both good and bad. Like how Wardian cases were used to carry food plants. But they also carried weeds and pests. People used Wardian cases a long time ago to move plants around the world.
Can you think of something that can be both good and bad?
Of Home and Place
The works in this section feature plants that grow in or near the bushland where I live and work. They are the tenacious survivors, some are prickly and compact, while others seek to attract pollinators with savoury, sweet and spicy scents. They reflect the earth that they grow in, the iron-rich, clay-heavy soil and gravel that I love so dearly.
FOR KIDS
The plants in these artworks are from my home. They are tough plants. Some have thorns or are prickly. Others have sweet smells. They are like this because of the soil and growing conditions. I have red rocky soil at my home.
What kind of soil do you have at home?
This could be in your backyard, your school or your park.
Do you know what plants grow in the bush near you?
What are they like?
Do they look prickly or smooth?
Do they have nice smelling flowers?
What type of artwork would you make about these plants?
ut audiat vocem dei terrae I (listening to the voice of the earth I)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Parsonsia eucalyptophylla (gargaloo)
amor terrenus (earthly love)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
220.0 x 390.0
Plants: Acacia podalyriifolia (Queensland silver wattle), Corymbia citriodora subsp variegata (spotted gum), Pittosporum angustifolium (gumbi gumbi)
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) [rug]
2023
NZ wool mix handwoven
250.0 x 250.0cm
Plants: Grevillea robusta (silky oak), Xerochrysum bracteatum (Golden Everlasting), Ozothamnus diosmifolius (rice flower)
dolorem inferens memorias (painful memories)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
300.0 x 125.0cm
Plant: Alyxia ruscifolia (chain fruit)
odorem perditae memoriae (the scent of a lost memory)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
300.0 x 125.0cm
Plant: Carissa spinarum (conkerberry)
investigatione feminini mystici (search for the feminine mystic)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
220.0 x 390.0cm
Plants: Callistemon citrinus (pink champagne bottlebrush), Eucalyptus sideroxylon Rosea (pink flowering ironbark), Backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle)
procidens per aerem (falling through air)
2023
dye-sublimation on recycled microfibre
300.0 x 530.0cm
Plants: Flindersia xanthoxyla (yellowwood ash), Hovea lorata (purple pea bush), Melaleuca linariifolia (snow in summer paperbark), Glycine sp. (lover’s twine)
narratio regenerationis (the narrative of rebirth)
2022
single-channel video with stereo sound, 5:48 min
Plant: Acacia podalyriifolia (Queensland silver wattle / Mt Morgan wattle)
Acacias fix nitrogen in the soil, and in my region, they are often the first trees to re-establish growth in disturbed landscapes. Living short, essential lives, acacias enrich soil, creating opportunities for endemic species to flourish. Celebrating landscape regeneration, this work pays homage to the role acacia’s play in Australia’s ecosystems. The work incorporates an aural field recording composition and its spectrograph analysis from my family’s property where this Queensland silver wattle lives.
FOR KIDS
Wattle plants help soil recover so it can grow more plants. Their roots form symbiotic relationships with soil bacteria. A symbiotic relationship is when two different living things help each other out.
The relationship between wattles and bacteria changes nitrogen in the air into a different type of nitrogen. Other plants can use this new nitrogen to help them grow.
Can you think of other symbiotic relationships?
venari renata narratio (to hunt a reborn narrative)
2023
custom scent, nebuliser, recyled PLA filament, recycled PETG filament, LED lights, powerbank, corncob grit and glass bowl
Scent: Haden Acacias reconstruction: Acacia podalyriifolia (Queensland silver wattle/Mt Morgan wattle), Acacia ixiophylla (sticky wattle), Acacia maidenii (maiden’s wattle) with petroleum, kerosine, ozone, cold air and aldehydic aspects.
Acacia pollen, under the microscope, is the inspiration for these sculptural forms. It has a beautiful organic form comprising pod-like structures that seem simultaneously earthy and alien. It reflects the scent, which is a recreation of the wattles on my family’s farm. In winter, these wattles spread their ethereal scent through the cold air, high into the atmosphere, showing sweet gourmand joy. Within the scent from the nebuliser, I find additional hints of petrol and kerosine. It reminds me of being in the bush – as much as I immerse myself in nature, the human world creeps in through sounds and smells.
FOR KIDS
If you visit the show in real life you can smell this artwork!
I used microscopic images of wattle pollen shapes to create this sculpture.
Have you ever used a microscope?
Did you know that different types of wattle smell differently?
Queensland silver wattle smells sweet and spicy. But the maiden’s wattle smells soapy and sweet. The sticky wattle smells floral and like pineapple.
Do you have a favourite smelling flower? How would you draw the flower?
What colours and shapes would you use to show the smell?
regeneratio spei sub floribus aureis (a rebirth of hope under golden flowers)
2022
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
120.0 x 120.0cm
Plant: Acacia macradenia (zigzag wattle)
I see this work as a moth, opening its wings and sweeping upwards towards a bright future. It reflects the tentative hope of shifting sociocultural values and the political landscape. The image embeds the wattle’s sensory delight like a synaesthetic pop.
FOR KIDS
I used zigzag wattle to make this artwork. Can you see the zigzags?
To me, this work is like a flying moth. Other people think it looks like a jellyfish, ballet dancers, or parrots! What do you see?
A U-shaped area surrounds the wattle. This is a sound ‘spectrograph’. Sound spectrographs use sound data to make a graph. It displays the sound’s pitch, duration, and volume. Pitch describes how high or low the sound is. Duration is how long or short it is. Volume is how loud or quiet the sound is. Each framed artwork includes a spectrograph of me saying its title.
What do you think sound might look like if you could see it?
How would you draw or paint it?
Do you think you would use different colours for different sounds?
de terra: nos crescere et reditus (from the earth: we grow and return)
2022
single-channel video with stereo sound, 6:18 min
Plant: Pittosporum angustifolium (gumbi gumbi)
Dr Prudence Gibson describes this video artwork (re-written):
It comprises footsteps on dried grass. That crunch, crunch…crunch. You can hear the flutter of birds, the song of currawongs. The kaleidoscope images are joyful, as the artist intended. Cara-Ann is revelling in the cycles of life, as they happen. This work also heeds an aesthetic of care. The work includes gumbi gumbi plants, which are a type of bush medicine used extensively by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia for aeons.
FOR KIDS
A kaleidoscope is a toy that creates colourful patterns and shapes when you look through it. When you turn it, the patterns change. My video artwork uses angles and reflections to create a shifting image.
Have you ever used a kaleidoscope?
Watch the spectrograph in this video. It changes with the sound. When you hear birds singing, you might see their songs in the spectrograph!
How would you draw the sound of a bird singing?
What colour and shape would it be?
cadere in amore cum anima terrae (to fall in love with the soul of the earth ) I.I
2023
single-channel video, 5:00
Plant: Eucalyptus torquata (coral gum)
illic est nemo adhuc stantes in lutum (there is no standing still in the dirt) I.I
2023
single-channel video, 5:00
Plant: Backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle)
consummatio et restitutio – exolvuntur sine fine (consumption and restoration – an endless cycle) I.I
2023
single-channel video, 5:00
Plant: Callistemon viminalis (weeping red bottlebrush)
stultitia repetita replicationem (the folly of repetitive replication) I.I
2023
single-channel video, 5:00
Plant: Eucalyptus sp. (pink flowering gum)
Protective Cloaks
I often think of these artworks as my protective cloaks that also represent different facets of my identity. Geographically and spiritually, these plants and I are connected. I made these artworks during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency in 2021, where I partnered with Gummingurru Aboriginal Corporation, Paul Carmody and local creatives.
In some ways, I see these works as my past, present and future, but they weave in and out of their representations. They are part of my Everywhen. They protect me from looking too closely at the way my illness deteriorates my body. Yet, their veil-like transparencies allow me to watch safely, shielding me from the raw truth with velvet-like care. I wear their power like a mantle, revelling in their generosity and love.
FOR KIDS
These three artworks are about protecting ourselves. Sometimes we use items to cloak or shield us from things.
People wear raincoats to protect themselves from getting wet when it rains. We also wear seatbelts in the car to stay safe.
Can you think of an item that you use to protect yourself?
cadere in amore cum anima terrae III (to fall in love with the soul of the earth III)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Eucalyptus torquata (coral gum)
This work is a cloak, or perhaps, sometimes, it is a shroud. It holds power, and evokes truths that I cannot verbalise. It speaks to the transformative experience I had on Country with Wakka Wakka Traditional Custodians and Aboriginal cultural leaders. It symbolises these experiences and is a herald for changes still to come.
I fell in love again with the soul of the earth, drinking in these moments, this tree.
FOR KIDS
This artwork is about falling in love with the Earth through trees and nature. What do you love about the Earth?
If you made an artwork about why you love the Earth, what would you make?
I made this artwork after spending time on Country with Wakka Wakka Traditional Custodians. The Wakka Wakka nation is in southern Queensland, and is the Country where I live.
Who are the Traditional Custodians where you live?
intra corpus putre ruina vitae I (inside the body’s crumbling ruin on life I)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Eucalyptus sp. (cream flowering ironbark)
et saporem amarum I (the bitter taste I)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Flindersia xanthoxyla (yellowwood ash)
medicinae crescente de terra I (medicine growing from our earth I)
2021
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Pittosporum angustifolium (gumbi gumbi)
This work celebrates returning to my heart’s home: the joy, fulfilment and healing nature of place. Here I am grounded, deeply connected to the earth and sky. Gumbi gumbi grows across many areas of Australia. It is a beautiful weeping tree – lyrical, medicinal and a peacock within the bush. Scientific research shows its health benefits, including detoxification, blood pressure regulation, immune boosting, and antiviral properties. Gumbi gumbi symbolises hope and resilience in the face of adversity. Through the title, I remind myself that all medicine comes from our earth.
FOR KIDS
This artwork is about how much I love my home. When I am at home, I walk in the bush. It supports my wellbeing. Do you have a place that you love and makes you feel happy?
This artwork is also about hope and symbols. I used the plant, gumbi gumbi, to represent hope. I did this because gumbi gumbi is a healing plant.
What would you use as a symbol for hope?
de terra: nos crescere et reditus (from the earth: we grow and return)
2023
single-channel video with stereo sound, 4:43 min
Plant: Pittosporum angustifolium (gumbi gumbi)
societatum – repercussio est amoris personalis interitus II (society – a reflection of personal destruction II)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Brachychiton sp. (bottletree)
stultitia repetita replicationem II (the folly of repetitive replication II)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Eucalyptus sp. (pink flowering gum)
aures repleti bombacio: de realis fantasy quaerimum II (ears filled with cotton: seeking the real fantasy II)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Hibiscus tiliaceus Rubra (red cottonwood tree)
Dr Louise Martin-Chew writes about this work (rewritten):
The sensory overload that characterises modern life and its digital busyness is the subject of this work, which features the Hibiscus tiliaceus rubra (red cottonwood tree). A small branch of leaves, featuring two small flowers on each side of the image, drip luminosity over the dark background. The sight, sound and scent of flowers and trees is used to replace the less substantive content we are so often drawn to, over-refined and synthetic. In Cara-Ann’s capture of this tree, she looks to the physical and spiritual sustenance offered in nature’s reality.
Excerpt from Dr Louise Martin-Chew (2023), ‘Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)’, in Martin-Chew, L. et al, Furari Flores. Haden: Cara-Ann Simpson, p. 11.
consummatio et restitutio – exolvuntur sine fine (consumption and restoration – an endless cycle)
2020
pigment print on Canson baryta photographique rag
76.2 x 76.2cm
Plant: Callistemon viminalis (weeping red bottlebrush)
Dr Louise Martin-Chew writes about this work (rewritten):
The qualities and capture of light in this work reminds me of the symbolism of light in Gothic cathedrals, captured historically to elevate perceptions of the power of God. In this case, however, luminosity is a paean to nature, a plea for better custodianship of the environment and restoration over forces that continue to work against climate change action. The brightness of the red flowers is met and matched by the lines of the spectrograph behind the plant. Its colour is intense, speaking to political rebellion, anger and fire.
FOR KIDS
This artwork is like a church’s stained-glass windows. Have you seen light coming through stained-glass?
I made this artwork to celebrate nature. But I also made it about how we should look after the environment better.
What would you include in an artwork about nature?
Cara-Ann Simpson, 2022.
About the Artist: Cara-Ann Simpson
Cara-Ann Simpson (b. 1985, Toowoomba) is an artist, curator, author, and educator. Her background spans arts, culture, heritage, and land management. Simpson is based on Wakka Wakka lands in southern Queensland. Her practice reflects her lived experience of disability and chronic illness. Simpson’s interdisciplinary practice engages with sensory perception, deep listening, and environmental interaction. She creates sensory connections to land, plants, place, and memory.
In 2024, Simpson premiered Furari Flores at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) Art Gallery, supported by Creative Australia, Arts Queensland, Regional Arts Fund, and Australian Cultural Fund. In 2022, she won the Heysen Prize for Landscape (Hahndorf Academy), and Outer Space and Cultural Capital commissioned her.
During her Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency (2021), she partnered with Gummingurru Aboriginal Corporation, Paul Carmody and local creatives. She has been an awards finalist, including Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Burrinja Climate Change Biennale Art Award, Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize and Clayton Utz Art Award. In 2012, she received the University of Ballarat Emerging Artist Award (Flanagan Art Exhibition), and the Digital/Photographic Print Award (Albert Park College Art Show).
Currently, Simpson peer assesses for Regional Arts Fund, Arts Queensland, and Creative Australia. She is also a Flying Arts By Request Facilitator, and freelance curator. Simpson’s law studies complement her interests in artist advocacy and consulting. She advocates for artists’ access and inclusion, legal rights, recognition and fair pay. Simpson fosters regional artists’ careers through professional development and mentorship.
Simpson has held leadership roles with Hervey Bay Regional Gallery (Fraser Coast Regional Council), Cruden Farm (Keith and Elisabeth Murdoch Trust), National Trust of Australia (Victoria), Bundoora Homestead Art Centre (Darebin City Council), and Electrofringe Ltd. Simpson won the UniSQ Young Alumnus Award 2017 for her arts and cultural work.
Simpson graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts First Class Honours, UniSQ (2008). She won the Asia-Pacific Golden Key International Honours Society Visual & Performing Arts Sculpture Scholarship 2008. For her undergraduate studies, Simpson received the UniSQ Faculty of Arts medal and a distinction award in 2007. Simpson won the 2007 Hobday and Hingston Bursary from the Queensland Art Gallery.
Simpson has exhibited and presented in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Türkiye and USA with funding support. Public collections holding her work include Hahndorf Academy, Toowoomba Regional Council, Albury City Council, Darebin City Council, University of Sharjah and Alroe Solicitors.
Cara-Ann Simpson is represented by Onespace.
Funding Acknowledgments
This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
Furari Flores – Cara-Ann Simpson, documentary produced by Ben Tupas for the Furari Flores exhibition at UniSQ Art Gallery in 2024.