Performance-based Installation June 2017 Falmouth University

In collaboration with cellist: Oak Matthias www.oakmatthias.com

A performance of the marginalised and often overlooked,  a humble weed.

 Taking a photograph every minute over thirteen days allows the work to evolve as nature takes its course.  The  finished time lapse of the dandelion clock becomes a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life and death.

Oak created a structured improvisational piece with the Common Dandelion as its muse. His cello intensifies fleeting moments and enhances the melancholic performance. Jo and Oaks collaboration pays tribute to a normally inconspicuous metamorphosis. 

Performance-based Installation July 2018 Heligan Gardens

100:UNEARTH

WILDWORKS

Common Dandelion performs alongside musicians from Wildworks as part of the 100:UNEARTH production at Lost Gardens of Heligan. Wildworks explores the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice when a dream of a happy return to normality is shattered and the great Lord of Death continues to reap his harvest.

“Lost Gardens of Heligan is a place where growth and decay co-exist. A place full of promise. A Place that teaches us the invaluable lesson. Death is inevitable. Love goes on, endlessly regenerating itself…..”

Mercedes Kemp Artistic Lead and Writer. WILDWORKS

As an endangered species,  the beauty and fragile qualities of this  delicate flower are captured and preserved in Cornish tin.  Chosen because of its locality and as a soft metal it replicates the bluebells fragility. Cornish tin is no longer mined and therefore also becoming difficult to obtain.

Site specific installation at Princess Pavillions.  Falmouth 2016

Working with the gardeners who managed Gyllgdune Gardens, we collected exotic plants and dried then over winter to delay decomposition. Their enchanted forms were captured in large dramatic photograms  and then hung in suspension in the glass ceiling above.

'Jo's work is truly inspiring, exploring the natural world in fresh and unusual ways.  She created a stunning, thought provoking installation at Princess Pavilion & Gyllyngdune gardens exploring the beauty in decay.  The artworks created using a mixture of different media became a real talking point for visitors connecting the outside and indoor space in an exciting way'.

Jacqui Owen, Visitor and Engagement Officer.  Falmouth Town Council in partnership with CORMAC.

Inspired by Dr James Lovelock and the theory of Gaia.

Nature claws back abandoned junk, weathering, attempting to biodegrade to enable growth. Our planet trying to cleanse itself of the rubbish we create.   

Plastered:  42 x 28 inch photograph on fuji crystal archive paper. lustre

Trashed:  42 x 28 inch photograph on fuji crystal archive paper, lustre

Dead to the World:  Screen print in rust on reclaimed wood