Furari Flores touring exhibition: Support Material
Artist: Cara-Ann Simpson
Project title: Furari Flores tour: development of accompanying programs & tour delivery
Project: Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers)
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) was first exhibited at the University of Southern Queensland in early 2024. The exhibition received significant success, which has instigated the tour.
Furari Flores is a multisensory arts experience celebrating the wonder of plants. Enter a world of botanical magic and join me, Cara-Ann Simpson, on a journey of deep listening, Earth admiration, and plant love. Each visual 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 online exhibition visit: https://caraannsimpson.com/project/furari-flores-exhibition-2024/
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.
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)
This work is like 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. Featuring Acacia macradenia (zigzag wattle) and a spectrograph (visual analysis of sound), the sensory delight of the wattle is embedded in the image like a synaesthetic pop.
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.
Tactile elements including a handwoven woollen rug, cushions and fabric drops.
These tactile components feature Australian indigenous plants that grow on my family’s farm in southern Queensland. These works incorporate a mix of photography and digital drawings using local plant specimens.
venari renata narratio (to hunt a reborn narrative) 2023
custom-designed scent, nebuliser, recycled PLA filament, recycled PETG filament, corn cob grit
Scent sculpture inspired by Acacia pollen under the microscope. The scent captures the ethereal smell of local wattle’s in winter air.
Furari Flores installation view 2024
Image: Cara-Ann Simpson
Installation view of Furari Flores at the University of Southern Queensland in 2024.
ubi occurrit terra in lacrimas kosmos (where the earth meets the tears of the cosmos) 2023
custom-made scent, nebuliser, rustable magnetic iron PLA filament, clay PLA filament, red gravel rocks
Image: David Martinelli – DC Imaging 2024.
Visitors enjoying a scent sculpture work exploring petrichor at the University of Southern Queensland.
Previous Work #1: 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). I toured this interactive installation to Blue Oyster Art Project Space in Dunedin NZ, Kings ARI in Melbourne AUS, and Subtle Technologies Symposium in Toronto CA.
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/
Previous Work #2: 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/
Previous Work #3: 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.