Arboreal Narratives show at Woollahra Gallery, Redleaf on Wed

Ahead of time I popped down to Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf on Wed night to see a show featuring trees, a group show Bernadette Smith (who I met there) was in. I’ve written before about Bernadette’s work as I’ve been to a few openings by this artist, who often uses photography.

Strangely two of the artists whose work I also chose to feature have the same surname, Louise Fowler-Smith (see below) does these glossy shots of trees at night.

On the other hand Jude Fowler-Smith (see below) does some of her shots out-of-focus. This especially appealed to me as it consones with aspects of my own practice.

Still using green (we’re talking about trees, after all) is Elizabeth Gervay (see below). This time sculpture. I’m sure this would look stunning in a large room but you’d need a fairly big house to accommodate it.

Also requiring space is Miho Watanabe’s work, a sort of loose scroll of what looks like film stock (see below).

Watanabe’s vision was impressive as I felt that she captured – as did many of the other artists – something essential about our love of trees, but also something essential about their fragility. It’s fine to photograph trees 9we live in the mechanical age, after all) but what about homes for ourselves. Is it necessary to destroy koala’s homes – the eucalyptus trees they rely on – in order to build new housing for humans on city fringes?