wotwedid

Renata Buziak: Centella asiatica anti-inflammatory 2015, archival print on paper, 66.7 x 95cm.

.

MEDICINAL PLANT CYCLES: RENATA BUZIAK

Medicinal Plant Cycles installation

@ Redland Art Gallery: 24 APRIL – SUNDAY 5 JUNE 2016

Medicinal Plant Cycles by Renata Buziak is an exhibition of medical plant images was opened by Dr Victoria Cooper on April 22nd. Buziak’s work is based on the fusion of organic and photographic materials in a process of decomposition that Buziak names the ‘biochrome’. They are generated by arranging plant samples on photographic emulsions and allowing them to transform through the bacterial micro-organic activities that are part of cyclic decay and regeneration.

Through this exhibition Buziak hopes to reveal a beauty in decomposition and raise notions of transformative cycles. This focus on Minjerribah medicinal plants aims to promote the recognition, appreciation, and value of local medicinal plants in the context of Aboriginal knowledge and natural science.   (From the gallery and Renata Buziak’s website)

Dr Victoria Cooper opening address

.

An extract from Victoria’s opening address:

Renata Buziak’s art presents a synergy with the natural environment rather than the considered reconfiguration of natural objects seen in the work of many contemporary artists that follow in the land art tradition of Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long­. As such Buziak’s work and methodology invests in collaboration and empathy in all aspects of her research.

Through her Biochrome process Buziak visually explores the complexity–sometimes messy and chaotic–within the lifecycle of plants and the ecological systems that sustains them. Within the process, and evident in the final works, is the agency of borders, boundaries and edges. It is at the edges of the plants from the leaves and stems down to the cellular level that vital exchanges occur between life, death and decay. Buziak also works in the generative but slippery space that traverses the boundaries of art and science, culture and knowledge.

At first sight, these images are an aesthetic experience: of colour, shape, form and texture. But as I spend time to look into the microscopic worlds made visible within each image, I am drawn into other aspects of the work. I am engaged by the evolving story of her investigation with this process that is underpinned by a respect for the lived experience and knowledge of Aboriginal culture.

As I continue to linger–taking time for reverie–questions emerge along with a sense of wonder. These images are a visual thesis for the Deep Ecology of these medicinal plants and the natural environment that forms the unseen and unknown of our everyday existence.

.

Renata and Victoria

.

.

.