Kath Fries Studio: March 2011

Hold dear, 2011, installation at Hidden

Kath Fries, Hold dear, 2011,
nylon netting, charcoal and Moreton Bay Fig tree, 300 x 600 x 100 cm.
Hidden: Rookwood Sculpture Walk 2011

The transience of existence and fragility of life are recurring themes throughout my installation practice. Hold dear, 2011, is a temporal site-sensitive installation reflecting on the grieving process; particularly the challenge of emotionally letting go of loved ones after they pass away. My use of charcoal refers to cremation and the use of ash in various religious rituals around the world. Here burnt dead wood is bound in a net, one end of which is attached to a living tree and the other drags along the ground where the charcoal gradually disintegrates and is absorbed into the earth. Hold dear forms a poetic commentary on our human struggles to accept the natural cycles of death, decay and rejuvenation.

Kath Fries, Hold dear, 2011,
nylon netting, charcoal and Moreton Bay Fig tree, 300 x 600 x 100 cm.
Hidden: Rookwood Sculpture Walk 2011

Hidden: Rookwood Cemetery Sculpture Walk

Sunrise to Sunset

7 March – 8 May 2011

Hidden: Rookwood Cemetery Sculpture Walk

ARTISTS: Cathie Alexander, Sandra Marker, Lee Bethel, Nerine Martini, Kylie Bowles, Mills & Morte, Pamela Lee Brenner, Ro Murray, Will Coles, Michael Needham, Cassandra Daw, Miguel Olmo, Kate Dorrough, Kay Orchison, Margaret England, Al Phemister, Benedict Ernst, Stephen Ralph, Kath Fries, Celine Roberts, Linda Galbraith, Sue Roberts, Anne Gaulton, Tracy Smith, Jenny Green, Petra Svoboda, Serena Horton, Jane Theau & Mandy Pryse-Jones, Melissa Laird, Peter Tilley, Ad Long, Annette Tzavaras, Dillon MacEwan, Jacek Wankowski, Jennifer Teo & Shannon O'Neill.

Hidden: Rookwood Sculpture Walk is an on-site sculpture exhibition revealing artists’ responses to Rookwood, the largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere. Rookwood is a place rich in heritage, history and culture, its beauty and splendour distinctive and Hidden invites audiences to explore the iconic site whilst admiring the evocative works that feature amongst the graves. The 36 works are inspired by loss, memory, grief, death, mourning, spirituality, memorial and ceremony.

www.rookwoodcemetery.com.au/hidden

Documentation photographs taken by Joy Lai

"Patricia Alvarez and Kath Fries’ collaborative installation performance 'Clothe the wold and meet the sky' is a human driven web of hair and fibres. It’s feminine, tactile and a little bit trippy. The artists’ treatment of their materials oscillates between unruly and controlled, resulting in an eerie 'wold' that is part intention, part imagination and part accident. The medium is message here I think. If weaving is about making connections between things, then this entangled cave is an apt analogy for the strangely beautiful mess we make when we interact/connect with others." Art Tart Review

These photographs of the Patricia's performance in my installation were taken by Joy Lai from Lyrebird Photography at the opening of Clothe the wold and meet the sky, Thursday 24 February 2011, Gaffa.

You can read more about the project here