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5. Kealey Bacic

Fallen, 2023

steel

 

 

Fallen is a recreation of a moment in time. A mere twig, fallen from a tree, having served its purpose, gathering energy for the tree, providing a perch for a bird, nectar for pollinators. Though it has separated from its body, its beauty lives on, its place in the world remains though it has shifted. Much like the memories of a loved one, when shared amongst those that remember them, becoming almost larger than life.

About the Artist

 

Kealey Bacic lives on Dharug Land in north western Sydney, NSW.

@_iron_ivy_

 

 

Transcription

My name is Kealey Bacic, I’m an artist that works predominantly with metal and foraged materials. My works are directly inspired by nature, highlighting its imperfections and adaptability while contrasted with rigid, industrial materials. Much like the landscape I grew up on my sculptures go through many transformations, their components and materials are often repurposed and reconstructed to become new sculptures, or left to weather and age over time. 

At age 6 my family moved from Sydney suburbia to a rural 5 acre property, it was like discovering a whole new world. The wild part of the property, We called it “up the back”, felt like an endless wonderland to explore. The huge gums trees like flagpoles we used to orient ourselves.  

As a kid we would climb them and use fallen branches to make cubby houses with leaves for carpet. As a teenager I spent every afternoon riding my horse around them, we would gallop up the hill through the clearing and towards the trees, circling and weaving between them.

As I grew older I went to university and moved to the city I no longer had reason to visit these trees, but I was still drawn to them and would take walks “up the back” to visit and check in on them. I realised I had accumulated strong memories around those trees, they were the markers of ordinary things that had happened but were solidified in my memory. With nothing but a patch of dirt or a fallen log as a placeholder. I would look down and notice the leaves, the sticks and the dirt and see time, beauty and inspiration. 

This artwork, ‘Fallen’ is an oversized replica of a twig that caught my eye one day. It was shortly after my Grandpa had passed, I was taking a walk on my lunch break and spotted a twig laying comfortably on the dirt next to the walkway. I noted it but kept walking. On my way back I was still drawn to it, it stood out on the ground like a red ribbon. I felt I needed to spend time with it, honour it for its time spent photosynthesising, being a perch for a bird, offering nectar to pollinators and being a part of the world. There was something so ordinary about that day and about the twig, yet it felt special. I spent the next two weeks sketching this twig, it was the first time I had put pencil to paper in years and I realised spending time with this twig gave me time and a quiet place to grieve and appreciate every moment no matter how ordinary.