A STRANGE LOOP
EXISTING CONDITIONS
PHOTO SURVEY
PROPOSAL
LINE
the ground that was once below; now thrives atop
these plains dusted in bulbs, thickets and tufts,
fed on the insides of our cracking earth,
it is the foundation of our waltzing field
but matilda is gone, alice in her place
going down as best she does, losing her own edge, her own margin,1
thrust into a new time a new place.
the rabbit-hole belongs on another continent, another time
appearing here lopsided, fallen, en plain air
privy to the sub- and the terror of these modern foundations.
1. ‘[…]a field-woman is a portion of the field: she has somehow lost her own margin… and assimilated herself with it’
Timothy Morton, Dark Ecology. Columbia University Press:2016, p4.
Timothy Morton, Dark Ecology. Columbia University Press:2016, p4.
LINE/FIELD
CONVERSATION PIT
she misses not the long table nor the rowdy dinners of her past,
satiated instead by the pit and the quiet conversation.
inspection pausing her journey
mesh sparkling upon the bulging barrier,
intombed & intoned by stacked parcels of colour and texture,
distinction borne from their abrupt upheaval, the many thousands of years marked in composition and constituent parts.
SHED 01
ORCHIDARY
peering in, her nose grazing the soft barrier
seeing what she had not before – the life of these walls. organisms rooted in the fluxing crevices; growing, sprouting, fruiting,
moss byrophytes lichens fungi held aloft.
seeing now the earthern tapestry she is situated amongst
SHED 02
THE MOTH-ERY
before long she finds her self caged in the open
The darkness of night sky
that once held her in her constant plunge
now altered, obscured, greyed.
flitting with life.
a
moth to the flame, but this moth feels no pull
no lurking desire
to throw abandon at light nor heat nor food nor sustenance
SHED 03
THE SWAMP
SHED 03
THE SWAMP
THE SWAMP
phantasma! This field, cold wind,
a sprouting spore
tentacles tendrils gills
rich and unfurling
or was it a fish? Left atop, loose, in the stagnant ponds of remanent glaciers
alice’s form remains though the walls on her sides,
now slick and glassy reveal a new type of enclosure.
pontoons of artifice float nearby
In traipsing along, wondering about these cryptic objects that litter her step:
tuber, orchid, potato, creamy and translucent3
purple polka dot bikini4
one-eyed, one-horned5, she realised she lived in a twisted, looping form.6
3. Descriptions and analogies of the subterranean orchids indemic to southern Australia are taken from: Lillian Radulova, Daily Mail Australia
4. Brian Hyland, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, 1960
5. Sheb Wooley, The purple people eater, 1958
6. ‘lived in a twisted, looping form’p6.Timothy Morton, Dark Ecology, Columbia University Press, 2016.