Inspiration - The Ocean and Coastal Margins

Beyond the necessity of water for survival, being around water is something that lifts me, and is quite integral to my wellbeing. The ocean played a big part in my childhood, and even through my adult life, it has often been an influence and also a connector with people, work and recreation. I spend a lot of time at the beach, walking those coastal margins, observing, and being in the ocean; it’s the place I go to just be. It’s a space that makes no demands and has no expectations.

With my connection with the ocean being as integral as being creative, it seemed logical to combine these two aspects in my practice and create a body of work around bodies of water and ideas that sprung from that. As I had been exploring utilising algae-based bioplastic as a medium, it seemed a natural but also logical combination to explore.

I observed debris collection at the high tide mark on Papamoa Beach over various days. The seaweed, shells, driftwood, and the like in the wrack line changed every day with the ebb and flow of the tide. Sometimes shells were more prominent, sometimes seaweed, and sometimes fragments which seemed more of the river than the ocean. Borders were always evident - in the wrack line, the surf bubbles, the watermark left in the sand as the waves departed. There were also prints left by people, animals and birds that intertwined, like long connective chains that were absorbed by the incoming tide. Ideas around bodies of water and interconnectivity started to form.

The algae-based bioplastic I make is its own unique animal. We have warred; it’s a battle of will and control with what I want the material to do and what it is willing to do. I have ultimately had to come to terms with surrendering that complete agency over a medium and working with it, allowing for random outcomes and somewhat letting go of expectations. It is a material that somewhat reflects what I go to the beach for: to get away from expectations and demands. It has been interesting to reflect on my processes over this year, because it’s been a challenging one personally. In turbulent times, it has become evident to me that I seek safety in the known and try to find ways to control (work becomes more structured and representational), in times of calm, I am more amenable to going with the flow. A psychologist would probably have a field day on the connection of myself, my materials and processes!

Progressions - Previous Work

I started working collaborating with the ocean, pouring bioplastic into the surf and allowing the water to form outcomes. I contained these within sheets of bioplastic. I was at a bit of a loss with what to do with these, how to present them and felt really conflicted with letting go of that traditional artwork on the wall mentality. I then made works with items I found in the wrack line. This work ended up in the National Contemporary Art Awards at the Waikato Museum so wasn’t a work I was able to get input on with seminars, however I went to the beach and poured the bioplastic on the wrack line at the beach. A time where I was scrabbling to find a direction, my home was in chaos in remedial building work and issues with my son, everything was fragmented and it reflected in my work. I let go of working with the beach as I figured issues would come up with me taking from the beach. I then created bodies of water with bioplastic skins and vessels - a work that very much reflects me trying to find control and seek something more structured. The last step in the process this year has been surrendering absolute control to the material and allowing it to be itself, and in doing so allowing it to fall alongside my theory.

Materials and Significance of Choices

Algae Based Bioplastic
My bioplastic is made from agar powder, water and sometimes glycerine. Agar is derived from red algae species. When dissolved in hot water, it forms a jelly-like substance. The glycerine adds elasticity; however in this work I have not used this as I wanted a firmer medium. This algae-based bioplastic is biodegradable, edible and can be recycled within a simple closed-loop process. It can be made and then melted and remade, and so forth. As an artist, looking for materials that are more ecologically friendly makes for an interesting alternative to plastic. Any waste, breakages, or failed tests can be recycled and made into something else.
Algae-based bioplastic is hydrophilic, meaning that it attracts water. It absorbs water from the atmosphere and, in humid conditions, releases it. It is almost like it breathes water. The bioplastic is also conductive like our skin before it is fully cured. If placed on the screen of an iPad or smartphone, it activates the screen. The texture of the bioplastic, when cured, is like dried skin, something like rawhide.
Water
Bodies of Water - Water plays a big part in my body of work. Water makes up the majority of bodies. Humans are 60 to 90% water. Our planet is about 80% water. Bioplastic also has a high percentage of water in its constitution of about 90% water. The water content on Earth remains consistently the same. The earth cycles this water, the water in our bodies, the water in plants, the water and oceans of water. Water is recycled through evaporation, rain, and decomposition. The blood, sweat, urine, amniotic fluids and tears of humans, indeed all creatures, are leaked back into the earth and reformed and reabsorbed into other beings. Eventually, there is this connectivity and unification by water of everything. Everybody else's ancestors flow through us. We are all connected. By this water, everything that is being and that will be. In partly reading Bodies of Water by Astrida Neimanus, I considered how algae bioplastic brings together some aspects of this cycle. Algae-based bioplastic will absorb moisture from the atmosphere and, through the process of syneresis, will release the moisture. The liquid that is oozed out will then evaporate back into the atmosphere, which the algae bioplastic will again absorb when it's wet, as will other living organisms and their bodies of water absorb moisture. This becomes its own little loop, which you can observe happening in the algae-based bioplastic in a relatively short time span. Blog post here.
Deuterium - In researching water and water cycles, I learned about hydrogen isotopes in water, which created a connection to my theory about the connection between living beings over time through water flow. The predominant isotope of hydrogen is protium; it only has one proton in its nucleus, whereas deuterium has one proton and one neutron. Due to its slightly different physical characteristics from protium, deuterium is significant in water formation on Earth. According to a study by Cleeves et al. (2014), some of the water on Earth is older than the sun and even the solar system. This primordial water, originating more than 4.5 billion years ago, makes up 30-50% of the water on Earth. That water has been flowing through the hydrological cycle (water cycle) for billions of years. The water cycle is the process by which water moves continuously from the surface of the Earth to the atmosphere and back. Deuterium can be found and tracked throughout this cycle. Deuterium can be found in all forms of water, including the water in our bodies. When living beings consume water, they also ingest its deuterium signature or "fingerprint" that reflects the source of the water. Scientists can also determine the origin, history and migration patterns of living beings. Deuterium informs this project as it is an isotope within water and is present in bodies of water and water cycles. It gives water its own fingerprint, allowing history and origins to be known. When thinking about how water connects living beings (bodies of water) since the beginning of their existence as a species and consequently over time through many bodies, deuterium is a known traceable marker that validates this. Although it cannot be seen in the algae-based bioplastic works I am making, Deuterium would be present in the water I use as it is in living beings. Blog post here.

Glass Beads
The rationale for including glass beads in the works relates to a couple of ideas. Firstly, I am considering geographical bodies of water, the beach and the border, which is the wrack line, and sand is a significant component of an ocean beach. Glass is commonly made from the grains of quartz crystals in sand. Glass can also be made when lightning strikes the ground, which forms fulgurite. Within fulgurite, geologists have found a soluble phosphorus mineral called schreibersite. The solubility allowed the phosphorus to leach into the water, allowing it to play its role in forming life, being an essential element in cellular compounds such as DNA and cell membranes. If lightning strikes around 3.5 billion years ago were responsible for releasing phosphorus from the fulgurite glass they formed and are an element of fundamental importance to the creation of life, water, and algae, it seems relevant to include tiny glass beads in my bioplastic forms. There’s a connection with life, water and solubility, and sand, which is often around geographical bodies of water. Blog post here.

Within my practice, I see algae-based bioplastics as embodying ideas around the creation and sustainment of life and interconnectedness. The materials are made from elements that are significant in the creation of life on earth and there is this idea of closed-loop recycling in which water and the atoms within it circulate not only through things living currently but have been circulating in the solar system before earth was formed and will continue to circulate until the end of time. While the bioplastic material forms a tangible yet ephemeral skin, there is also an idea of immortality created from those ever-enduring atoms and interconnectedness resulting from the cyclic flow of water.

Generally, the importance of water to life is understood, as well as that water moves in cycles around the Earth. Still, perhaps due to water availability, it is taken for granted, and little thought is given to water flow through living things, including humans, and how living things are connected and often polluted by toxins in water. Frederic Brussat wrote, “This is a fact of our existence: We are a body of water. On a spiritual level, we acknowledge that the water coursing through our physical being is connected to the rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans: we are kith and kin. When they are polluted and harmed by our careless acts, we suffer with them. When we work to protect and save the waterways, we are healing ourselves.” (Brussat, 2013). I was drawn to this quote as it embodies some ideas in my work and the connectedness of living things through water. Water is cycled through living things through ingestion, absorption and respiration, and that sharing can be quite intimate, yet can be quite abject, but it’s done every day without much thought.

In the work Water’s Edge, I am exploring ideas of materials representing living and geographical bodies of water existing over time, the perceived boundaries between them and the exchange that occurs through water cycles (evapotranspiration and respiration) that naturally create an interconnectedness. Algae-based bioplastic responds to air, moisture, and atmospheric changes - breathing in and out and becoming a participant in the exchange of water molecules between the margins that divide bodies of water. The biomorphic forms are skins that support this process and become a kelp-like divide like that found on the shoreline of geographical bodies of water. A zone of both separation and connection between land and water, overlapping and influencing the natural state of each other, and crossing over into one another.

Artist Model

Kate Newby - Installations and assemblages, process-driven works. How they can change a space
Eva Hesse - Hesse has been an artist model from the outset of working with bioplastic. Process-driven practice, experimentation with non-traditional materials such as latex and fibreglass
Robert Ryman - I looked at Ryman's work because of his focus on using white paint in different ways.
Richard Serra - Verb List. On some psychological level, looking at this work permitted me to let the material do what it naturally does; it doesn’t need to be anything more than be folded or draped.

Theory

Futures Thinking - “Futures thinking is primarily concerned with systemic factors, and is less concerned with immediate problems. It recognises that everything is interconnected and that to make a meaningful and long-lasting impact, one must understand and intervene in the overall system rather than addressing only individual elements”.
Futures shaping art/art shaping futures https://scenario.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/SR-06-Web.pdf
Bodies of water / Hydrofeminism (Astrida Neimis)
Post Minimalism

Process

Making the algae-based bioplastic is a simple process of mixing agar powder with water and heating at medium-high temperature for about 20 minutes. I add glass when the mixture is removed from the heat, and then I pour the bioplastic out on a large surface and smooth it so the thickness is fairly consistent. One of the large sheets fell off the board while drying and crumpled onto the floor. I left this to dry, and I was pleased with the resultant biomorphic forms. I carried on creating sheets by crumpling the bioplastic. The biggest challenge in creating these sheets is curing them. I have found that my laundry is the best place to dry the bioplastic as the dehumidifier is more efficient in a small space. If it doesn’t cure fast enough, it can start growing mould and bacteria starts growing. If this does happen, I recycle any mouldy forms (or any that aren’t what I need) by placing them into a pot of water, heat the bioplastic until melted and pour another sheet. I have tried creating bigger sheets on my bathroom floor, but the quantity was difficult to dry efficiently. When the weather is sunny, I can put boards of bioplastic outside in the sun, and it cures over the day and finishes off in the laundry with the dehumidifier overnight. The warmer weather makes the process much quicker so I am hoping I can maximise on creating bioplastic over summer.

Sources

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Contextual Statement

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