Visual Arts

Secrets of Seaweed

Presented by Country Arts SA in partnership with Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre, City of Mount Gambier.

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About

In Secrets of Seaweed, Limestone Coast artists and collaborators Jo Fife and Sally O’Connor present artworks of diverse materials and approaches put together in the service of a deeper understanding of the limestone coastline and its seabed ecology.  

Fuelled by a passion for the preservation of marine life and biodiversity, O’Connor and Fife first joined forces as Holdfast Art Project in 2021, bringing together local artists in the region to take a closer look at the unique character of the coastline, in particular the Bonney Upwelling that hosts the most diverse algae species in the world. In Secrets of Seaweed the two apply a wide range of media to their subject, employing soft sculpture, watercolour, painting, printmaking, projection and digital media to share their findings and reflections from the oceans floor.  

Using hand dyed and almost entirely gifted, reused and recycled materials, Fife’s approach to object making invokes the fragility of our seabed ecology while revelling in the wonders of marine lifeforms. O’Connor, working mainly in painting, watercolour and printmaking, employs her background in botanical science takes us on a deep dive into the bizarre cellular world of holdfasts, seagrasses and red, green and brown algae. 

Together they take us on a journey and share the incredible diversity of the Limestone Coast’s seabed and shoreline. 

Image: Sally O’Connor, Delicate red epiphyte on amphibolic (detail), 2023, watercolour on paper, 92 x 72cm. 

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