FIELD OF VISION
(2023 - 2025)
Gippsland Art Gallery
(Oct - Dec 2023)
Victoria, Australia
Korean Cultural Centre Gallery
(Feb 2024)
Sydney, Australia
Town Hall Gallery
(Feb - April 2025)
Melbourne, Australia
(Oct - Dec 2023)
Victoria, Australia
Korean Cultural Centre Gallery
(Feb 2024)
Sydney, Australia
Town Hall Gallery
(Feb - April 2025)
Melbourne, Australia
Field of Vision
is an ongoing archival led project by Wona Bae & Charlie Lawler. Since 2020, Field of Vision has evolved into a collection of over 1,400 lichen samples and data sets, captured by Bae and Lawler from urban and remote landscapes across Australia, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, and Norway. The archive includes specimens from vulnerable alpine, coastal ecologies, offering a snapshot of current environmental conditions.
The project engages with the contradictions inherent in colonial systems of knowledge, particularly herbarium catalogues, which were shaped by ideologies of preservation. These systems, however, have historically and continue to coexist with dubious colonial practices of environmental management and extraction that contribute to the ongoing climate crisis.
Lichen, chosen for its distinct visual patterns and ecological significance, serves as the subject of this series. A composite organism made of fungi and algae, lichen functions as a single symbiotic unit, often found on rocks and trees. Its slow growth and sensitivity to environmental changes make it a key bioindicator of climate and ecological shifts. The unique symbiotic function of lichen draws parallels to our own human relationships to the natural world we inhabit.
Alongside detailed photographic samples, the duo records site-specific data for each specimen, including location coordinates and climate conditions. These data, combined with the visual textures of the lichen, create a time capsule of the present moment, documenting the rapidly shifting environment influenced by human-induced climate change.
Presented as macro photographs reminiscent of herbarium catalogues, the works showcase lichen at a scale where its intricate textures and patterns can be fully appreciated by the naked eye. The first exhibition of Field of Vision was held at Gippsland Art Gallery in 2023, featuring 24 black-and-white Giclée prints (84.1 x 118.8 cm) showcasing lichen from Victoria and Tasmania. The archive has since expanded and was exhibited at the Korean Cultural Centre Gallery in 2024, with an upcoming exhibition at Seasonal Shifts at The Town Hall Gallery in Melbourne in 2025.
Installation view, 84.1 x 118.8 cm Giclée, archival pigment prints. Field of Vision, Korean Cultural Centre Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2024. Photographer: Document Photography.
Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler, research, lichen fieldtrip to Mount Field, lutruwita / Tasmania, November 2022. Collecting data and photographic samples for the Field of Vision series lichen archive. Photographer: Charlie Lawler.
Natural History Museum London, Collection Specimen. Identified by: Mason Ellsworth Hale Jr. Scientific name: Flavoparmelia rutidota (Taylor) Hale. Author: (Taylor) Hale, Phylum: Ascomycota, Family: Parmeliaceae, Genus: Flavoparmelia, Species: rutidota, Higher classification: Ascomycota; Parmeliaceae, Recorded by: Robert Brown, Record number: 539, Collection date: 1802 - 1805 Mount Field, lutruwita / Tasmania.
Installation view, 84.1 x 118.8 cm Giclée, archival pigment prints. Field of Vision, Korean Cultural Centre Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2024. Photographer: Document Photography.
Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler, research, lichen sample from lichen fieldtrip to South Jeolla Province, South Korea, June 2022. Collecting data and photographic samples for the Field of Vision series lichen archive. Photographer: Charlie Lawler.
Installation detail of 84.1 x 118.8 cm Giclée, archival pigment print. Field of Vision, Korean Cultural Centre Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2024. Photographer: Document Photography.