Relative Terrains
Karma Barnes and Robèrt Franken
Grafton Regional Gallery
Grafton, Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl Country, NSW, Australia
16th Sept - 12th November 2023
RELATIVE TERRAINS
Exhibition Statement
Human and soil are derived from the same Latin root as the word for earth. The soil functions as an interface between the body and its environment. Literally and metaphorically, soil is the source of all existence. (1) We take birth on soil, live on soil, walk on soil, die on soil and finally vanish in soil. (2) All life originates from and returns to the earth. (3) Humans are themselves displays of complex sedimentary process, in the human there is material, fragment, abundance, clay, dirt, nonsense, chaos. (3)
Relative Terrains traverses the geological environments and volcanic landscapes of Bundjalung Country, Northern Rivers, Australia exploring how the forces of elements, time, and life experiences shape and change us. Through a palimpsest of the Earth's endless cycles of life and death, creation and destruction, the work examines how our internal and external experiences transform us. Earth pigments, produced by natural forces over eons, are the material, interface and mediator through which different elements meet, carrying the records of the land's creation and transformation and are metaphorical of our own stories as the co-creators of our life’s evolutionary process.
Relative Terrains first emerged as an applied research arts practice to reflectively comprehend the Australian Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20. This emergence coincided with the onset of the global COVID19 pandemic. The work continued throughout significant climatic shifts and ultimately a series of catastrophic flooding events induced by the ‘La Niña’ phenomena in early 2022. This flooding resulted in significant local and social devastation. The environmental effects of flooding; specifically large-scale landslides and erosion through to sediment translocation and silty deposition were considered as metaphors of inner psychological responses and collective social experiences and relationships to these climatic events.
The exhibition of Relative Terrains was initially scheduled to take place in Lismore Regional Gallery, however due to significant damage suffered by the gallery during the 2022 floods, The exhibition was postponed and later relocated to Grafton Regional Gallery. The research works of Relative Terrains have evolved amidst many climatic stressors, including droughts, fires, floods, and a pandemic. The work explores the influence of elemental forces, temporal dynamics, and personal life experiences on the shaping, adaptation, and transformation of individuals.
The initial body of work has expanded to encompass a broader range of experiences and works exhibited over the 3 years of development, including Transformation - Through the Pressures of Time (2020) examining how we are formed and informed by relationships through the intersections of nature and culture. Chromatic Terrains: A Symphony Of Expansiveness, a phenomenological experience inviting contemplation and reflection on transformation and change, vastness and the complexity of the human experience. Fragmented (2023) installed in a flood-affected home of the Northern Rivers re-examined the challenge and the conventional notion of ‘Home’ while celebrating a flood-affected house on the brink of demolition, as a gesture of hope, resilience and creative transformation. The work explores how we respond internally to external fragmentation, loss, and identity connected to home and sense of place.
The works of Compounded Caldera (2022) and Raw Earth Palettes of Australia (2022) were specifically created for The Wild Pigment Project exhibition presented at form & concept Gallery of Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (2022) and at The NMSU Art Museum, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA (2023). The show, curated by Tilke Elkins, the founding director of the Wild Pigment Project, brought together international pigment artists and their works who had actively participated with The Wild Pigment Project since its initiation in 2019.
The culmination of the research conducted on Relative Terrains resulted in a comprehensive presentation of the project on a significant scale in the Relative Terrains (2023) exhibition. The exhibition produced in collaboration with Robèrt Franken, an artist of Dutch origin, centres around an exploration of the importance and outcomes of collaboration, intersubjectivity and earth pigments, delving into the transformative effects that connections have on our essential essence and existence. It serves as a stimulus for introspection and prompts us to contemplate the ways in which these external dynamics have reconfigured and altered our internal landscapes and terrains.
1 Phillipe Descola , Soil and Culture, editors E.R. Landa and C. Feller (Springer, 2010), p. xiii. 2 Satish Kumar, Soil , Soil, Society, a new trinity for our time, Leaping Hare Press, 2013. 3 Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the future, Cambridge University Press, 2012
Video credit: Key Witness Media, Vasana Sounds
Palimpsest
Karma Barnes and Robèrt Franken, 2023
Materials: Earth pigments, acrylic, oil paint and ink on canvas and prepared marine ply.
Dimensions: Body of 15 doubles sided suspended paintings installation,
Various sizes: 80 - 150cm in width, weight 1-3 kg each. Original installation dimensions: 900 cm x 600 cm
Humans have an intrinsic tendency to evolve, undergoing substantial changes as a result of collective efforts and interpersonal connections. Memories layer through time, and imprints etch on this palimpsest of existence, changed yet retaining their past forms, aspects that defne our essence through emergent intersubjectivity.
Earthly Embodiments, Shifting Landscapes
Karma Barnes 2023
Materials: Reclaimed Grafton Regional Gallery Original Bricks, Metamorphic Earth Pigments and Landslides gathered on Bundjalung Country, NSW, Australia.
Dimensions: Original dimensions 800cm x 200cm
The human experience is comprised of complex and interconnected reactions. To what extent do life circumstances influence and contribute to personal transformation? How does the terrestrial landscape undergo transformations throughout time as a result of various stressors and climatic influences, and how do these phenomena mutually influence one another? Furthermore, how can we effectively convert these experiences into tangible artefacts of significant value?
The manifestations of climate change are increasingly visible characterised by compounding climatic catastrophes rather than subtle fluctuations and disruptions. Earthly Embodiments: Shifting Landscapes examines how people and the environment change over time in response to shifting climatic conditions, drawing comparisons between our connections to geography and our interpersonal relationships.
The sculptural soil spheres draw inspiration from Japanese Dorodangos and employ earth derived from locations that have been disrupted and damaged by landslides. Raw earth transfigured through the processes of compacting and burnishing is transformed into precious fragile forms, symbolising our ability to transform adversity.
Co-Lapses
Karma Barnes 2023
CO-Lapses pertains to the interconnectedness of cycles, the transitory nature of phenomena, and the subjective nature of our interpretations of change. Informed through biomimicry, specifically the 'lady mudwasp,' the work mimics the work of the mud-dauber wasps that cohabit the artist's home and studio. The artist observed that the wasps were utilising pigments from their own artwork in the construction of their nests. The diligent creators have consistently been extracting and reclaiming pigments from the artist's artwork during the development of this series in order to create their ongoing and enormous collection of nest installations within the artist's space, inspiring the design of this work.
Through their complete metamorphosis, these industrious creatures mirror the profound transformation that underpins the human experience of change in our lives. The lifecycle of mud daubers unfolds in stages – from the delicate beginning as eggs, to the nurturing of larvae, the cocooned pupae, and finally, the emergence as adults. This metamorphosis, reminiscent of our own paths of growth and evolution, resonates as a testament to the ceaseless cycles we all traverse.
Mapping Internal & External Terrains
Collaborative Community Project / Relative Terrains Exhibition Public Program.
Materials: Earth Pigments, bush fire charcoal and ash and flood mud samples gathered from across Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl Country, Northern Rivers, NSW. Works on boards
Dimensions: 20cm Diameter, x 40 works
The Mapping Internal & External Terrains - Community Cartography is composed of pigments collected from across Bundjalung Country and investigates the intersection of art, mapping, and personal experiences.
Through a colour palette of earth pigments, clays, ochres, flood mud, bushfire ash, bushfire charcoal, and soils, the 'Community Cartography' tells the stories of those who have contributed to the pigments and geology of the land in collaboration with artists and community members from Northern Rivers. These materials were collected through a regional pigment callout and a workshop programme linking the communities of Lismore and Grafton. Community experiences of being shaped by our landscape, from cataclysmic environmental events to the subtleties of geological time, are reflected in these works.
