Always Sick
Noah Sunderland
Master of Architecture University of Sydney
“away sick seeks to reflect on the ability of material to hold memory, to talk of time and to connect places. to be mirrors of ourselves”
MATERIALS: Timber + Brass + Bronze + Rock
Artist Statement
An adoptive home. the home I seek is not the place I live, nor the place I was even born. it is a place that I have grown beside, that has unfolded in front of me. I have traced its every contour with my barefoot and in turn, I belong to it just as much as it belongs to me. A place that is in my blood for at least three generations ,but in earnest feels so much older.
My grandfather, my mother and I are now all of this place, and in turn, are part of its rhythms. bathing in its tannin rich creek and salty haze, it has held me, transfixed by sequences of baitfish, stingrays, shags and eagles that feel as if only we can predict. The soft grey underside of the banksia, and the grass tree spike, I have been let in on its secrets. these secrets, self-conscious and scarce, but vailed in knowledge. it is a place which holds this knowledge close as a quiet place and in bonds between loved ones bound by culture. tradition, connection and a deep understanding and appreciation of Thunggutti/Dunghutti Country, a place I carry in my marrow.
Synopsis
“away sick” seeks to hold the space between worlds and between homes. the piece acting as an exercise in concealing and revealing of culture and an articulation of the deep yearning for home Country. the inherently subtractive methods employed in its fabrication seek to withdraw the superfluous instead preferring the essence of object, material, time and story. the abrasion of concealed story aims to reflect time through the haptic interaction with the object, affecting a slow reveal of culture.
The blackened Douglas fir base reflects our colonial city dwelling, an adoptive home, and the growth of Sydney. running directly counter to this the found Permian granite instead tells a story of an organic home, of a home on the coast, a home far older. the blackened base holds this Permian granite stone, and bears its weight, its warmth and its significance. through use, the stone will abrade the brass’ patina, once again revealing the golden inner and the rich story it holds.
This intimate process akin to the gradual abrasion of a grindstone seeks to reveal a slow transformation. each component of the object is not whole without the other, the base reading as void without the stone, and the stone unstable without its base. the duality of material and temperament forges a narrative that is at once deeply personal and universal in experience... the nagging need to return home and tells of the protection and guarding of ones culture and connection for preservation.
