In Contemplation of Loved Ones Past (2022)
Found objects (metal and timber bench, clothing); sticky tape, plaster, paverpol, ink, acrylic paint, wire and copper
A woman in traditional Victorian mourning dress grapples with grief and memory. 155 butterflies surround her: one for each year that Rookwood has been operational. The site a still and constant space for memory across generations. The figure references the history and function of the site and echoes the many mourners who have lost loved ones and indeed become loved ones lost. Butterflies, symbols of metamorphosis, are often seen as an indication of a loved one’s presence. Each one is unique and created in remembrance of deceased family members: adding beauty, hope and a deeply personal element to the work. Audience members are invited to share the bench with the grieving woman and quietly contemplate their own loss and perhaps their mortality.
About the Artist
Hurlstone Agricultural High School is on Dharawal Country in Sydney’s South West.
Teachers: Jo Ross; Melvy Connell and Margo Gabsi
Students: Year 9 Visual Arts Students
Soha Alam; Tammi Chiem; Sophie Cramp; Raja Dasari; Kevin Francis; Lucy Gilbert; Gaven Hua; Barsa Karim; Jasmin Khau; Jenna Lim; Eric Lu; Nathan Luu; Aaron Mak; Kartikeya Mopati; Caitlyn Nguyen Aidan Abola; Jahanvi Arulkumar; Abbey Barnes; Ayush Bendre; Zoe Bonifacio; Aaron Chako; Sarah Chau; Andrew Chen; Bailee Danh; Jay Devarajan; Rachael Do; Niomi Egodapitiya; Areeba Fatima; Ozan Hassan; Aarohee Hirachan; Bonnie Huang; Claire Huynh; Jessica John; Max Lee; Annabelle Lewinski; Jim Ma; Arnav Mane; Cristle Muthupandi; Christian Triffiletti
Transcription
My name is Jo Ross. I'm one of the visual arts teachers at Hurlstone Agricultural High School who worked with year nine visual arts students to create the artwork in contemplation of loved one's past. The artwork is a mixed media piece. It is a figurative work that includes a female form dressed in traditional Victorian mourning dress, sitting on a bench mourning a lost loved.
A hundred and fifty five butterflies, one for each year Rookwood has been operational, land on or around the figure. Butterflies are symbolic of the presence of departed souls in many cultures. The symbolism comes from the metamorphosis butterflies undertake that strongly links to the shift from the physical to the spiritual realm. Each butterfly contains a visual or written reference to a deceased person who has significantly impacted the artists. In telling the story of these people, the students have created a memorial to each of them. Copper has been used to highlight the figure and to construct the butterflies.
This warm and reflective material has long been valued. It's one of the seven elements of alchemy and represents love, balance and harmony. According to mythology, copper also has the ability to conduct spiritual energy back and forth between individuals and the spirit world. This is a collaborative piece created by year nine students at Hurlstone Agricultural High School. Students began their journey by investigating the history of Rookwood.
They soon developed a strong focus on Victorian mourning protocols. Students then considered their personal connection to loss and mourning. This was quite difficult for some students as they had not yet been impacted directly by the loss of someone close to them. Students engaged in meaningful conversations with family about their relatives and ancestral past. This was an enriching activity as it opened communication and forged strong connections.
Students also reflected on those who had influenced their life in a significant way from outside their family. They then chose five people to memorialise in the artwork and began collecting images, documents and information about them. In terms of material practice, the bench's border is a starting point. The figure was constructed using a range of processes and media. The body is a mould of one of the students, created by wrapping the form in layers and layers of packing tape. The figure was dressed and the fabric treated with fabric stiffener and after painting the form black as a symbol of mourning, the copper paint was dry brushed over the form to create shimmering highlights and to provide a visual connection to the butterflies.
The butterflies are personal reflections. Each student created approximately five butterfly forms from Copper Shim. They used gel medium to transfer montages that they've created in manual or digital forms onto the copper surface. The work draws heavily on the history of the Rookwood site. It explores the site as a constant place of peace that has absorbed the turmoil of loss and mourning for a hundred and fifty five years. The work uses the reference to Victorian Times to highlight this history. The inevitability of death and the cycle of losses explored. The figure who mourns will, in time, become mourned.
The themes of history, remembrance and spirituality that connect artworks in the HIDDEN Exhibition underpin the work. In Contemplation of Loved Ones Past explores the long history and function of Rookwood as a site for mourning and remembering those we have lost. The work also creates a personal memorial to individuals connected to the artists, while notions of spirituality are explored in terms of alchemy and the symbolic return of departed souls to the earthly realm, in the former butterflies, giving form to that which exists only as memory and that that's integrated into the fabric of our identity.
I hope the audience takes time to sit and contemplate loved ones that they have lost, share the quiet space on the bench next to the woman from the past. I hope that they see beauty and love in the memories presented and take time to reflect on their own memories, recognizing that this beautiful and haunting place of quiet and reflection that is Rookwood has absorbed the tears and the sorrows of countless others before them and will continue to do so for generations to come.