DEEP TIME

2024
Daine Singer Gallery

Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler’s work explores points where climate patterns and systems of the natural world impact on human life. Traversing past, present, and future environmental influences, these natural systems which have slowly adapted over vast periods of time, stand in stark contrast to the ongoing human-induced climate emergency and the effects of decades of stalled action on climate change.

In Deep Time the pair have created a new series of sculptures based on 3D scans that trace the undulating marks of erosion along the Australian coast. Drawn to the figurative forms forged in coastal sedimentary sandstone, the structures tell the story of water and wind, shaped by millennia of gradual erosion and movement, epitomising the unending cycle of nature.
The forms are sculpted in timber using contemporary machining techniques, the technical precision of the machines used are able to mimic but not accurately translate the intricate textures and detail of the original forms. These losses of information speak to the limitations of our understanding of the systems that form and cover the natural world. The resulting timber forms are then hand sculpted and sealed by a process of charring, a traditional method of preservation. This method also extends the pair's research into charcoal, exploring its healing qualities as well as its association with disaster and renewal in ecosystems.

The sculpted forms adopt a Rorschach-like motif, contemplating the bias and level of human interpretation when considering the importance of our relationships with the natural world. Reflecting on a reality where environmental preservation is linked inexplicably to human made systems that have little to no regard for the natural cycles in the world.