OUT/ABOUT: Jamie North ‘Terraforms’
“Terraforming is the deliberate manipulation of an environment to make it capable of sustaining life.”
Cast concrete sculptures teeming with life, Jamie North’s totems are a study of the build environment versus flora. They are poetic symbols of the organic in stark contrast. One is mined from the earth and processed for humankind’s everlasting industrialisation playing host to the other, which is raw and wild peeking round corners in perpetual growth. And this is not the first time North’s works have been feature on In/Out, inspiring a Palette: Concrete Jungle earlier this year.
Jamie North started his profession as a photographer but his obsession with native plants and their survival in somewhat hostile environments soon started tipping the balance between mediums. Now you’re more likely to find him sourcing grit and rubble to mix and mold than with a lens in his hands.
The commanding photos of hauntingly weathered mountains are actually images of slag, the by-product of steel production in North’s hometown of Newcastle. This is the charcoal honeycomb aggregate distinctive in the body of his concrete totems. Broken down over time they become food for their guests as nutritious as volcanic ash.
Spellbinding, there is something reminiscent of the Japanese art of ikebana or bonsai in the quiet harmony of these lyrical statues. A certain part of your soul really really wants to take one home to permeate your world and make everything ok.
We bid farewell as North sets out to the USA, getting his hands dirty from LA to Pennsylvania realising his NSW Visual Arts Fellowship for Emerging Artists residency. We can’t wait to see what this fertile journey grows.
OUT/ABOUT: Jamie North ‘Terraforms’
Sarah Cottier Gallery
23 Roylston St, Paddington NSW
Tuesday – Sunday from 11am – 6pm
Until 5th July 2014
Credits: Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
