Furari Flores || Stealing Flowers
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) is a multisensory arts project celebrating the wonder of plants.
The series explores the themes of environmental art, data visualisation, technology, geometry and meditation. Enter a world of multisensory botanical magic and join me on a journey of deep listening, Earth admiration and plant love.
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This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia,
its arts funding and advisory body.
This project is being made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.
This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
Furari Flores is supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.
Furari Flores is supported by the University of Southern Queensland.
Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) is a vanitas series of one-on-one plant interviews incorporating spectrographs, the visual analysis of soundwaves. The spectrograph in each still image is a recording of myself pronouncing the Latin title – the irony of speaking a dead language to a plucked flower, now also dying, and then leaving only the visual representation in the world, the movement of sound left in the past. As I develop the series into moving image, the sound is responding and in these works provides a representation of the location of the plant at the time the specimen was taken.
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In April 2021, I undertook a Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency, and during this period produced another 11 works as part of the Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) series.
narratio regenerationis (the narrative of rebirth) 2022
Plant: acacia podalyriifolia (Queensland silver wattle)
Winner, Heysen Prize for Landscape 2022 (Hahndorf Academy SA)
One of the beautiful things about watching an acacia landscape is their long-term effects on natural regeneration. Acacia are soil nitrogen-fixers, and in my region, they often are the first trees to re-establish growth in disturbed areas. Living short, but essential lives, they enrich the soil and create opportunity for other endemic species to flourish once more. This work is a celebration of regeneration, and pays homage to the vital part that acacia’s play in Australia’s diverse eco-systems.
It is also a reframing and extension of my series, Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers), transitioning into moving image. The work incorporates an aural field recording and its spectrograph analysis from my family’s property where this Queensland Silver Wattle (Acacia podalyriifolia) came from.
regeneratio spei sub floribus aureis (a rebirth of hope under golden flowers) 2022
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. Focus-stacked photography and digital manipulation form the image, and I employ symbology through composition to create layered meaning.
scuto protectoris nostri coronati (nam Eddie) [crowned with the shield of our protector (for Eddie)] 2022
Plant: eucalyptus sideroxylon rosea (pink-flowering iron bark)
This work, made in the aftermath of a 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 (soundwave analysis) of the title spoken in Latin.
Finalist, Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize 2022
cadere in amore cum anima terrae III
(to fall in love with the soul of the earth III) 2021
Plant: eucalyptus torquata (coral gum)
This work is a cloak, or perhaps a shroud. It holds power, and evokes truths that I cannot verbalise. It is the summation of my experience being led by Traditional Custodians and Aboriginal cultural leaders during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency in April 2021. It is both a symbol of 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.
Finalist, Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, 2022
Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize 2021
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency 2021
intra corpus putre ruina vitae I (inside the body’s crumbling ruin of life I) 2021
Plant: cream flowering ironbark
This work is a shield, a cloak acting as an armour against the world. It hides my failing body from the world and shields me from looking closer. My body’s interior may crumble, yet immersion in the natural environment ground and strengthen my soul to keep walking forward.
Finalist, Clayton Utz Art Award 2021
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
et saporem amarum I (the bitter taste I) 2021
Plant: flindersia xanthoxyla (yellowwood ash)
The bitter taste of past and progress merge, requesting acknowledgement as we push forwards. The cloak (Flindersia Xanthoxyla) protects the wearer striding forwards into the void from fear.
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
mutantur narrationis exsequitur, tua veritas I (changing the narrative, into your truth I) 2021
Plant: unknown eucalyptus species
As we navigate a way into an unknown future, we are granted the endless opportunity to also look back – to see the past with present eyes, understand it anew, and find our truths.
So often this means changing a narrative that has been 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.
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
cadere in amore cum anima terrae II (to fall in love with the soul of the earth II) 2021
Plant: eucalyptus torquata (coral gum)
The title of the work came to me as I was standing with the tree. It’s small, wiry and intricate. The leaves almost have a curry scent, while the flowers smell like pure nectar – sweet enough to feel heady.
I fell in love again with the soul of the earth, drinking in these moments, this tree.
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
medicinae crescente de terra I (medicine growing from our earth I) 2021
Plant: Gumbi Gumbi (pittosporum angustifolium)
medicinae crescente de terra I (medicine growing from our earth I) 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.
The plant is Gumbi Gumbi (pittosporum angustifolium), which grows across many areas of Australia.
Scientific research demonstrates it has health benefits as a detoxifier, blood pressure regulator, immune system booster and antiviral, among others. In the face of a viral pandemic Gumbi Gumbi is a symbol of hope and a reminder to remain grounded in the face of adversity.
Gumbi gumbi is a beautiful weeping tree – lyrical, medicinal and a peacock within the bush.
In the title, seen within the image as a spectrograph (soundwave), I remind myself that all medicine comes from our earth in some form or another.
Finalist, Paint the Town, Queensland Regional Art Awards 2021, Flying Arts Alliance
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
ut audiat vocem dei terrae I (listening to the voice of the earth I) 2021
Plant: gargaloo (Parsonsia eucalyptophylla)
I pause to listen and reflect, immersed in the land and surrounded by the busyness of being. The voice of the earth will sometimes speak to me if I can let go of my be-ing and just be.
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
audite abyssi I (listen to the deep I) 2021
Plant: Podranea ricasoliana (Port St Johns creeper)
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.
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
cadere in amore cum anima terrae I (to fall in love with the soul of the earth I) 2021
Plant: Eucalyptus torquata (coral gum)
I’ve developed a few works from this specimen, which I came across in Maclagan. It stopped me in my tracks, and I have been back to visit the tree and neighbouring dairy cattle a few times since.
The title of the work came to me as I was standing with the tree. It’s small, wiry and intricate. The leaves almost have a curry scent, while the flowers smell like pure nectar – sweet enough to feel heady.
I fell in love again with the soul of the earth, drinking in these moments, this tree.
Produced during my Toowoomba Arts Footprint Artist Residency
societatum – repercussio est personalis interitus II (society – a reflection of personal destruction II) 2020
Plant: Brachychiton sp.
aures repleti bombacio: de realis fantasy quaerimus II (ears filled with cotton: seeking the real fantasy II) 2020
Plant: hibiscus tiliaceus Rubra (red cottonwood tree)
Finalist, Stanthorpe Photography Award 2021, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery
This work is from Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers), a vanitas series of one-on-one plant interviews. We fill our senses as we fill our mouths – feeding on refined, synthetic and processed content. I want to stuff my ears with cottonwool to block external stimulation and find my own fantasy in reality.
Canon 6D, EF16-35mm f/4 IS USM at 23mm, ISO 100, 1/15sec at f/4, lighting 3200K, tripod, cable release. 40 images focus-stacked using Photoshop. Resulting image was duplicated, mirrored and joined to create a ‘Z’, pixels transformed to create bleed. Spectrograph (soundwave visual analysis; artist pronouncing Latin title) integrated with image.
aures repleti bombacio: de realis fantasy quaerimus I
(ears filled with cotton: seeking the real fantasy I) 2020
Plant: hibiscus tiliaceus Rubra (red cottonwood tree)
societatum – repercussio est personalis interitus II
(society – a reflection of personal destruction II) 2020
Plant: brachychiton sp. unknown
stultitia repetita replicationem I (the folly of repetitive replication I) 2020
Plant: Eucalyptus leucoxylon var rosea (pink flowering)
stultitia repetita replicationem II (the folly of repetitive replication II) 2020
Plant: Eucalyptus leucoxylon var rosea (pink flowering)
Finalist, Bluethumb Art Prize 2022
societatum – repercussio est personalis interitus I (society – a reflection of personal destruction I) 2020
Plant: brachychiton sp. unknown
salvus erit procidens gratia (saved from falling grace) 2020
Plant: nymphaea caerulea (sacred blue lotus)
I love the connections between the mythology of Lotopagi (lotus-eaters) and nymphaea caerulea (sacred blue lotus) naming. Nymphaea are sacred shrines dedicated to nymphs, often found within natural grottos near springs. Over the centuries nymphaeum become complex with intricate architecture, detailed mosaics and fountains.
Nymphs, like Lotophagi, lived in harmony with their natural environments. Both are rarely encountered by others, but are seen as seducers inducing infatuation, forgetfulness and even madness. As ever, the heroic step in to save those swayed by a simpler way of life outside of societal expectations, to bring those foolish enough to become infatuated back to their ‘rightful place’.
quo minus significatione delivers magis notitia (more information delivers less meaning) 2020
Plant: Eucalyptus leucoxylon var rosea (pink flowering)
ubi aqua vita – colligentes Lotophagos (where there is water there is life – Lotophagi gather) 2020
Plant: nymphaea caerulea (sacred blue lotus)
This series acts as a nexus between commentary on personal challenges and an outward interpretation of global news and my environment. They are an ironic reminder of the innate beauty found simultaneously in decadence and decay.
Lotophagi are lotus-eaters overcome by blissful forgetfulness, who after eating the sacred blue lotus no longer wish to return to their lives of labour. I have long been fascinated with Lotophagi mythology, which in other interpretations can also link back to seekers of wisdom. The sacred blue lotus, nymphaea caerulea, is a waterlily that has widely naturalised in coastal regions south-east Queensland and New South Wales. It has psychoactive compounds, which likely correlates to the development of the Lotophagi mythology.
There is a beautiful and terrible symbolic parallel here between the mesmerising sacred blue lotus’ naturalisation into Australia‘a fragile and life-giving waterways and the Lotophagi mythology. It is a reminder that where there is water there is life, but even if this life is beautiful, it is not necessarily sustainable. As our global population grows, so too we see a decline and decay in the health of our waterways.
de fluminibus grauatum merserunt: pulchritudo in paucitate plebis (the rivers overcrowding: ruinous beauty) 2020
Plant: nymphaea caerulea (sacred blue lotus)
Expanding on ideas within the Lotophagi mythology, this work moves sideways towards a mandala structure – acting as a meditation aid to shift us into a state of forgetfulness. The bliss of forgetfulness translates across written histories, forged fallacies and unattainable morals to a construction of reality – a version decided by those in power.
As consumerism delivers an ever-increasing ease to access products designed to satiate any desire, so too we fall into addictive patterns – small or large, benign or malignant. During the year of a global pandemic, where I have been located well outside hotspots of devastation and immediate impact, I have been exposed to righteous anger and indignation resulting from minor inconveniences of non-essential desirable consumerism.
We are at the precipice of consumerist inconvenience driving political response to safety. As one of the minority sitting in the highly vulnerable but younger age bracket (under 65 with chronic illness) I struggle to justify or support these changes, and instead move further to the fringes into isolation anew.
spatia in inter – silentium est inventus est I (in the spaces between – silence is found I) 2020
Plant: datura sp. unkown
In the spaces between moments I seek silence – a rest from the busyness, solitude from self.
This specimen was found lying on a hillside, resting and filled with seeds. I believe this is from a Datura, likely brought in by purchased hay, or seeds blown during dust storms during drought. Noxious, toxic and poisonous – still majestic and saturated with power.
spatia in inter – silentium est inventus est II (in the spaces between – silence is found II) 2020
Plant: datura sp. unkown
spatia in inter – silentium est inventus est IV (in the spaces between – silence is found IV) 2020
Plant: datura sp. unkown
spatia in inter – silentium est inventus est V (in the spaces between – silence is found V) 2020
Plant: datura sp. unkown
spatia in inter – silentium est inventus est II (in the spaces between – silence is found II) 2020
Plant: datura sp. unkown
spatia in inter – silentium est inventus est III (in the spaces between – silence is found III) 2020
Plant: datura sp. unkown
consummatio et restitutio – exolvuntur sine fine (consumption and restoration – an endless cycle) 2020
Plant: callistemon sp. unknown (red bottlebrush)
This year of global challenges continues to defy expectations and deliver ongoing disbelief – at societal chaos, political power plays, climate change and the enormous appetite for consumerism. Alongside this devastation and futile contests is the rise of considered rebellion working towards restoration, trying to restore the destruction left behind.
martyrium quaerimus: humiliatio est pulchra” (seeking martyrdom: the beautiful humiliation) 2020
Plant: callistemon sp. unknown (red bottlebrush)
This work looks to symbology of the saltire – an X shaped cross. Within Chistendom the saltire has been associated since the 15th century with martyrdom (e.g. Peter the Apostle), representing humility and unworthiness. The idea of martyrdom has drastically changed in recent history, and is often used to describe the victim complex mentality – believing you are a martyr for personal benefit or feeding a desire to avoid responsibility.
Despite this, the symbology of martyrdom blindly marches on in search of the ‘greater good’. As I created this work, layering saltire (and perhaps a dash of satire) shaped crosses, I queried my personal belief and value system seeking answers, but only finding commentary.
A little less heavy is the delightful translation of ‘callistemon’ (bottlebrush genus): beauty + stamen/thread.
expectantes victoria et defectum” (waiting for success and failure) 2020
Plant: callistemon sp. unknown (red bottlebrush)
As I continue to develop this series I am being drawn into increasingly complex arrangements – both at a compositional level and via philosophical / sociocultural wanderings. Yet, I often desire paring back and so challenge myself to bring the works back to the minimum every so often. This particular work balances on the point of success and failure – the individual baring all to the crowd; standing naked on the stage.
vita, ut flores, revertetur ad terram (life, like flowers, return to earth) 2020
Plant: calodendrum capense (cape chestnut))
Highly Commended, Queensland Outsider Art Awards 2020, Art From The Margins
societatem ab intus putrescit (society rots from the inside) 2020
Plant: rosa sp. unknown
hoc est pulchritudinem – ac interitus et exitium (this is the beauty – their destruction and decay) 2020
Plant: rosa sp. unknown
Finalist & Touring Exhibition, Decadence, Queensland Regional Art Awards 2020, Flying Arts Alliance
sicut formicae desperanter laboraverunt ad mortem (as ants work desperately towards death) 2020
Plant: banksia integrifolia (coastal banksia)
This banksia inspired a meditative state during photography, almost to liminality. A likening of my current state to that of the ants I’d removed without realisation from their habitat, and yet they continued to work without their own realisation of being removed.
carpe omnia, sed relinquo nihil (seize everything, but leave nothing) 2020
Plant: banksia praemorsa (cut leaf banksia)
Such a complex, rich banksia, almost glowing under light. This image was created from 91 separate shots and focus stcked to pull both focus and vibrancy from the specimen.
decadentium ad mortem (de rubrum) [decadence to your death (of red)] 2020
Plant: rosa sp. unknown
scissa ex creatores (torn from our creators) 2020
Plant: grevillea sp. unknown
haec vita est fragile (this life is fragile) 2020
Plant: echinacea purpurea (red coneflower)
As this series develops I feel more and more in tune with myself and my environment. While the series continues to speak outwardly of our world (sociopolitics, pandemic, environments and societal decay) – they also uplift me. Rediscovering my joy in creation through conceptual development.
summa prospectum ex inferno itur (the view from the top is the path to hell) 2020
Plant: rosa sp. unknown
nos creare, et conteret – in speculum humanae (we create, and destroy – the human mirror) 2020
Plant: rosa sp. unknown
deflorationis fides tua virtus (deflowering faith by your virtue) 2020
Plant: unknown
These works explore ephemerality and societal decay. They act as a nexus between commentary on personal challenges and an outward interpretation of global news. They are an ironic reminder of the innate beauty that can be found simultaneously in decadence and decay.
fragili vanitatem mortis (the fragile vanity of death) 2020
Plant: grevillea sp. unknown
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