Connection is a floral sculpture designed and installed to resemble the shape and grace of land and sea. This creation is an ephemeral piece made from natural dried materials in local landscapes: lines of opposing fluorescent hues assembled from the lustrous dried plants, ribbons, knots and netting creating a delicate wave-like structure. These details are fleeting moments of beauty that celebrate the natural world. The materials aren’t dead or static but something that is alive and moving. It reveals some of that fluidity that is in the ground and sea and gives bracing energy to this site.
“This flow of expression becomes, I hope, a point of connection between the building, the underpinning of this ground and the visitors around it,” says Thai. “The intention of this particular sculpture is to reach in every direction into the nature of the site.”
Nature is the antithesis of instant gratification—it takes time, patience, deep concentration, and physical exertion too. Thai unearths florals as a blank canvas for whatever she wants it to be; florals are no longer reduced to the bouquet. A more experimental attitude allows florals to be more animated—and imperfect.
Trained and qualified in Fashion Design, artist Amy Thai never quite stuck with textiles exclusively. In addition to fashion and illustration, Thai works with ceramics too, thus you’ll often see that most of her floral installations are focused on vibrant distinctly shaped vessels and sculptures. By removing the materials she works with entirely from their functional context, this allows the ordinary structural details to strike out on their own.
Connection, the name for this installation, is a metaphor for the feeling of security. It derives its inspiration from the space and colour of George St itself, to remind us of the entwined dimensions of our inner and outer worlds. Connection invites the public, through its moving effect, to consider the specificities and similarities to creativity in their own everyday lives, and encourages new cultural insight, collective understanding and imaginings while highlighting the role of creativity for living well. This wall installation is intended as a space for spiritual, non-denominational freedom of thought.
