Design and the Anthropocene
30 July – 25 September 2024
Regional NSW artists Steven Cavanagh (Hill End) and Rebecca Dowling (Cowra) have joined forces to create this installation reflecting on the natural world. Familiar domestic objects made using stoneware and cyanotype photographic techniques have been created through individual practice and collaborative conversations. Studio processes celebrate the rituals of home and hearth while considering future Australian bushlands.
This is a special collaboration between ADC and Regional Arts NSW to bring the work of regional designer makers to a Sydney audience.
About Steven Cavanagh
Steven Cavanagh is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and educator living and working on Wiradjuri country in Hill End NSW. His studio and home are situated in Hill End. Steven’s work for Object Space is centred on the home. He has developed a range of domestic items that use cyanotype photography process and flora to evoke a sense of history, environmental awareness and well-being. He has recently been collaborating with the CORRIDOR project where he has developed his cyanotype work as part of their AIR program. The grass below—above the vaulted sky is site-specific work being made on Wiradjuri country along the Galari/Lachlan River.
“I am using cyanotype, recycled materials, found vegetation, sun and river water.” This process is low toxic and materials have a very small environmental footprint. The title of the work and project is a line from the poem I am by John Clare.
Steven has also been developing a range of tiles with Rebecca Dowling in Cowra. These tiles are handmade, also using cyanotype with a very specific firing technique. These items are designed to evoke an imagined Australian bush of native and exotic plants. “In my research I am contemplating the sublime, the enlightenment and industrial revolution as philosophies and events central to the Anthropocene. “I want to provide the viewer (and myself) with an experience that leads us to a future natural habitat and speaks to the idea of possible landscapes after humans have disappeared.”
Cyanotype photography is a camera-less technique that involves laying objects on porous materials that have been coated with a solution of iron salts before exposing it to UV light. The material is then washed with water to create beautiful white and Prussian blue images.
About Rebecca Dowling
Over the last three decades, Rebecca has quietly built up a reputation as a ceramist, appearing in exhibitions across Australia and favoured by collectors seeking art with substance and utility as well as beauty. Her works are functional, celebrating the mundane rituals of home and hearth, and made to be used in everyday life.
“I don’t want things to sit on shelves and never be used. Even when I am thinking of a display, I think more installation than exhibition.”
Rebecca’s stoneware plate works in Object Space focus on the importance of domestic space. A space where people come together and share stories of their day.
“We share a meal and use plates that are considered when they are made and hold our food. They are an offering.”
Rebecca collaborated with Steven on the range of tiles displayed. These tiles are handmade, with a cyanotype design that requires a very specific firing technique.
Steven Cavanagh
Voile curtains
NFS
Linen Lampshade
$515
Steven Cavanagh and Rebecca Dowling
Tiles
NFS
Rebecca Dowling
Stoneware Plates
Small - Large
$40 - $70
Additional plates available in Object Shop
Image top: Steven Cavanagh and Rebecca Dowling, Design and the Anthropocene - Tile Splashback Collaboration, 2024 Photo: Steven Cavanagh