If you dig it out or cut it off and then dump it, it can regrow. Its methods of reproduction and replication are efficient. But what happens if it mutates?
This work is an exploration of introduced plant species that are becoming naturalised in native bushlands/ road verges etc and investigates the peculiar ways plants have in doing this as well as noting the roles of animals and man in this process.
The sublime velvety flowers of Arum Lilies, the spears of intense colour of Watsonia, the lacy delicate foliage and attractive red berries of Bridal Creeper draw you in. The dispersal of seeds by birds, gives rise to new patches of these insidious plants.
The wire conveys the toughness and growth habits of these feral plants, its steely resilience establishing its stranglehold in the environment, twisting, tangling and weaving its way to further expand the patch. Underground tubers and corms link together to becoming large open structures, endlessly multiplying. Nets of knitted wire drape over and veil native plants. Plants that are no longer there, long deceased.
The intrinsic beauty that attracts us to these flowers initially, when combined with their underlying toughness, has been central to their spread into native areas.
Sublime, Insidious.
