Sunday Arts Magazine

28 Mar 2022

Unearthed

Uncategorized

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UNEARTHED engages both physical and digital landscapes. The artwork features a mural with contemporary re-workings of Yorta Yorta shields by Lorraine Brigdale and enlarged micrographs by Betty Sargeant from PluginHUMAN.

The mural, which will be a permanent feature, includes an icon that connects audiences with a microverse. When audiences hold their phones to the icon, they access an explorable digital landscape created by Akshat Nauriyal. This microverse is a parallel universe that exists alongside our non-digital reality. The mural and microverse can be viewed 24hrs a day.

During the festival opening weekend (March 18-20), the mural will be transformed after dark into a projection mapped light experience created by Justin Dwyer.

“In this project is an opportunity to unite a First Nation woman’s contemporary view of traditional Aboriginal war shields together with contemporary ideas in scientific imagery, illumination and video art,” says Lorraine Brigdale. “The collaboration prioritises Aboriginal art as an integral part of the visual imagery, encouraging a conversation around cultural awareness which is always this artist’s intention”.

Betty Sargeant says, “We use the name ‘microverse’ as a way to describe a small independent digital landscape. People don’t need to download an app or log in. We’ve worked hard to keep this experience independent and to ensure ease of access. The UNEARTHED microverse reflects a kind of alternate universe. One that coexists side-by-side with our non-digital reality. People can experience it by scanning a code that’s embedded in visuals of the UNEARTHED mural.”

The circular patterns in the mural have been made from micrographs and mathematical noise. Sargeant photographed the microscopic detail of wasp wings and Dwyer applied mathematical noise to the images. This created circular motifs that fuse scientific imagery with computer generative processes.