Project Description

Anne O’Connor

January 5 2018

We grow up with the gift of sight but sometimes it takes a lot more than looking to see.

Not everyone sees the same. Two people looking at a space will see different things, but often these things seem ordinary and your attention span is limited. To look more closely, one needs memories, experiences or learned knowledge about what you are seeing to maintain your attention. Other senses, sounds and/or smells will trigger things that make you look more closely or not at all. Emotion comes to play and you are hooked on a vision that is or becomes a memory, or you are repelled or disinterested by what is there.

On the East Coast of Tasmania is the Denison, a nine kilometre stretch of coastline that lies hidden by scrub covered sand dunes adjacent to windswept farmlands. Step down from there to feel white silicon sand crinkle under your feet as you watch glassy green waves roll onto the shore.

I grew up knowing this place as a child and have gone back to re-examine and explore it again as an artist. In the past, humans have tried to control it & use it’s bounty for profit but the elements have fought their battle and won.

Ruled by the ocean, river, wind, rain, sun and moon, the Denison has within an ecological system of elements that shape design and foster change. I call it my ‘Wild Ocean’ and like to think I belong there, in this place that has bounty for me to find and pass on, as extensions of the ordinary, from my eyes to yours. I hope you enjoy what you see.