Jill Chism, Artist

Jill Chism: Artist
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Home > Environmental Art Projects > Work prior to 2006 > Breathe

'Breathe Spirare' and 'Breathe'

Breathe Spirare - Mackay, Pacific edge Conference/ outdoor installation, 2006
Plastic flotsam and jetsam, table 2 chairs, sugar salt.
Breathe - Cairns Regional Gallery 2006

The desire for more objects, even with their seeming necessity, is critically threatening ecological balance. The word 'breathe' suggests the difficulty of Gaia/earth breathing underneath the increasing piles of waste. 'Spirare' the original derivative of the word 'breathe' also means spirit, the opposite of matter.

While drawing attention to the excessive amount of waste in our materialistic culture, this work entices the viewer through an installation of attractive arrangements. This process is meant to articulate the complexity of our desire for more against the accumulation of waste as these same things are discarded. There is a play between the initial desire/ attraction and repulsion.

In the installation at Mackay, I used the materials of sugar and salt to spell out the phrases 'I want, Consume' and 'Breathe Spirare'.  Sugar because of its association with the sugar industry/consumption and salt/preservation because it has spiritual connotations.
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  • The plastic for this work was gathered from flotsam and jetsam found on beaches in the Port Douglas region over 4 years. The plastic was both repulsive and attractive and the by-product of our materialistic society. width:800;;height:600
  • chairs-plastic width:600;;height:800
  • <br />'I want consume' was printed with sugar onto the footpath leading up to the table. The text along with the plastic drew attention to the effects of consumption/waste. It also makes reference to Jenny Holzer's LED sign 'Protect me from what I want'. width:600;;height:800
  • overview-outdoor-installation width:800;;height:600
  • The blurred line between attraction and repulsion of plastic found at the seas edge can be seen in this closeup where some of the plastic can't be differentiated from its organic surrounds. width:300;;height:225
  • Pink plastic on trees width:300;;height:225
  • Breath Spirare was printed on the footpath using salt as the medium. Spirare, a derivative of 'spirit', is the latin word for breathe. width:456;;height:342
  • 'Breathe' as installed at Cairns Regional Gallery in 2006 for World Environment Day. width:540;;height:267
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