This work centres on a reconstructed tree, carefully disassembled and reassembled to fit within an interior space. From its branches hang lengths of white transparent chiffon, onto which a 30-minute real-time video of the rising dawn is projected from above. A 5.1 surround sound composition fills the space, immersing the viewer in a layered sonic and visual atmosphere.
My intent was to create an experience where one can imagine experience as fractals of nature. Forever repeating, from different angles, unique and as similar as the dawn.
The inclusion of the dawn serves as a quiet acknowledgement of the natural systems that unfold continuously around us, often unnoticed. By presenting it in real time, I chose not to alter or distort it, but to let the natural rhythm set the piece’s pace.
I cut the Aspen tree down from my parents’ country property; it was a pest that had grown under a power line and, as a result, had been regularly pruned and bonsai-ed by the local council.
It was 4 metres tall and just as wide, so I had to figure out how to get it into my car and through the doors of my university.
I sawed off each limb and drilled a hole at an angle in its place. I created an “Ikea” tree that I could move through indoor spaces as if it had grown there.
The space that is created is an attempt to transport the viewer. Through the light created by the projections being focused on the centre, and the music surrounding the viewer. Creating an environment where memories that haven’t breached the surface in a long time re-emerge and have been reshaped through memory. I seek to envelop the viewer’s senses and create a setting where perception can gently shift.
I then hung chiffon and sewed it to the tree’s branches with fishing wire.
I spent many mornings recording the dawn and ended up enlisting my mother, who was working on the other side of Australia, because West Australian dawns are one of the greatest gifts of this planet.
I projected onto the piece from four projectors and used After Effects to projection map them. The last touch was to turn on the fans above and let the chiffon move gently with the wind.
The music in this piece was from an earlier sound piece I created called “Roots, Water, Microbe”, a piece I exhibited in Blindsides B-sides Radio Series.
