Collection: The Walls Once Built

The Walls Once Built

Holly O'Meehan

Window Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre | Exhibition 30 August – 13 October 2024

In an attempt to reclaim the landscape, this speculative future sees native Australian parasitic flora species collectively evolve in order to overcome their biggest competitor; humans. An adaptation into the materials that make up our constructed world, ironically made from the natural landscape we lay our
foundations on. From the clay we make bricks, the sand to mix with our concrete, the ore we convert into steel. This installation is commenting on the aggressive nature the Australian construction and mining industries find themselves in.

Developed from O’Meehan’s research into native parasitic plants such as the Moojar/WA Christmas tree, the sprawling growth of drawings and ceramic objects slowly fill the cracks of the gallery space theorises the possible next steps in our natural environments’ evolution. A future where the environment no longer struggles under the weight of human interference and harnesses the built infrastructure as its host,
growing new foliage in clay and cement that it leaches from the foundations of the walls.