17 May –– 13 July
David Charles Collins | Elizabeth Edmonds Sarah Elson | Holly Story | Beverly ThomsonFORM acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Western Australia both past and present, whose enduring connection to this Country and ongoing contributions to our collective culture and communities we respect and honour. We appreciate and are deeply grateful for the privilege of working on these lands.
Readers are advised that this exhibition contains images of nudity.
“Her prayer was scarcely done when a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left.”
– Ovid
‘Daphne becomes the laurel bough’ Metamorphoses, Book 1, 8 CE
Artists
David Charles Collins
Elizabeth Edmonds
Sarah Elson
Holly Story
Beverly Thomson
The epic narrative by Roman poet Ovid, Metamorphoses, describes hundreds of episodes whereby gods, plants, animals and humans change into different forms. A famous example is Daphne’s transformation into a laurel tree (quoted on page 4) to escape the unwanted advances of Apollo.
Globally, First Nations cultures share similar stories that show the permeability of assumed ‘borders’ between humanity and the natural world. These stories cast landscape as literal manifestation of human and divine aggression, lust, terror, love and tenderness.
The triangle of south-western Australia between Shark Bay and Esperance is classified as one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots due to its ecological
richness and fragility. Though comprising only 5% of the continent’s landmass, this area contains over one third of its flowering plants: around 8,000 species, more than half of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Since European colonisation, over 70% of their habitat has disappeared, leaving many at risk of extinction. Metamorphosis draws attention to this crisis.
Accordingly, the exhibiting artists have produced works in collaboration with the flora of Western Australia’s south. Exploring notions of transformation in their approach to materials and concept, the artists treat plants as partners in a process of co-creation, rather than objects of artistic scrutiny.
David Charles Collins’ Medium Format photographs are the result of the alchemical meeting of light and chemicals; Elizabeth Edmonds mixes charcoal from the trees she draws into her ink; Sarah Elson continually melts down and recasts precious metals; Holly Story uses natural materials to dye and stain fabrics and paper; and Beverly Thomson incorporates local plant matter into her ceramic and textiles works.
Like Ovid’s poem, Metamorphosis presents a series of transformations that question the stability of human subjectivity in a mutable world.
David Charles Collins
Born: Perth, Australia, 1988 Lives and works: Sydney, Australia
David Charles Collins’ photographs explore notions of beauty, decadence, control, surrender and catharsis. He frequently depicts himself or various models in performative acts that explore the relationship between humans and the natural world. In 2016 FORM commissioned Collins to create a series of images of flora from the southern Goldfields-Esperance region, his Wild Silence series, which is reshown here, alongside a new body of work, Anima, commissioned in 2024 for Metamorphosis.
Inspired by the myth of Apollo and Daphne, these new works were created in bushland at Wilyabrup, outside of Margaret River.
Collins gained a Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) at Curtin University Perth, and graduated with a Masters by Research from Sydney College of the Arts in 2017, specialising in photography and video media. His work has been exhibited across Australia, China, Germany and the UK, including solo shows in London, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, and most recently as part of PHOTO 2024 International Festival, Melbourne. He has been a finalist in major awards including The Blake Art Prize, the William and Winnifred Bowness Photography Prize, and the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award.
His work is held in collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the University of Western Australia, and in Home of The Arts, Gold Coast, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art and the Western Australian Museum (in collaboration with Tony Albert and Warakurna community).
Giclee print on
59 x 42 x 5 cm
$1,200 (framed)
Limited edition of 5 + 2 AP
Unframed editions: $1,100 to order
Limited edition of 5 + 2 AP
$1,200 (framed)
Limited edition of 5 + 2 AP
Unframed editions:
to order
Giclee
59 x 42 x 5 cm
$1,200 (framed)
Limited edition of 5 + 2 AP
Unframed editions: $1,100 to order
Unframed
Limited edition of 5 + 2 AP
Unframed editions: $1,500 to order
Limited edition of 5 + 2 AP
Unframed editions: $1,500 to order
Elizabeth Edmonds
Born: Whitley Bay, UK, 1967
Lives and works: Walpole, Australia
Dr Elizabeth Edmonds is an artist and palaeoecologist who lives on a family farm surrounded by the Walpole Wilderness. Edmonds’ art reflects her understanding of the changing physical environment, working primarily with ink and watercolour, both outdoors and in her studio. Her finely-rendered drawings reflect both her love of the natural world, and her highly-focused scientific eye. Shown here are two large-scale works depicting endemic Eucalyptus jacksonii or Red Tingle trees from her local environment, charcoal from which has been incorporated into the ink used to draw them.
They are accompanied by a new installation work, Transition created especially for Metamorphosis, and viewable on the upper level of the Gallery. The work is a depiction of a stately cluster of Kingia australis Edmonds discovered, recovering from bushfire in the Walpole Wilderness peatlands.
One of the State’s leading regionallybased artists, Edmonds has participated in numerous exhibitions including a solo show at the Western Australian Museum of the Great Southern, as a three times finalist in Bunbury Regional Art Gallery’s South West Art Now(and its 2023
Western Australian tour), and in group shows at Collie Art Gallery, John Curtin Gallery and through The Creative Grid. She was a recipient of the Eucalypt Australia Dahl Fellowship 2023 with her The Tale of Two Trees project, which was a State Winner in the 2023 Keep Australia Beautiful Sustainable Communities Awards. She frequently curates exhibitions for artists visiting the Southwest region, teaches workshops, and is represented in collections in Australia and overseas.
Transition
Elizabeth Edmonds, 2024
Ink and cold wax on rice paper, wood dowling 170 x 200 x 100 cm
$8,000
On the left: Detail from Transition
Ancient Home
Elizabeth Edmonds, 2023
Ink, charcoal tingle ink and wax on board (polytych)
76 x 516 x 2 cm
$10,000
Sarah Elson
Born: Barossa Valley, Australia, 1971
Lives and works: Near Fremantle, Australia
Sarah Elson has pursued an interest in traditional metalsmithing and its use in contemporary visual arts practice for over 30 years. Her work examines the nature of preciousness and the preciousness of nature, frequently incorporating organic forms cast from recycled precious metal, resulting in hybridised objects that seem to meld plant and animal biology. By continually casting and re-casting metal, creating articulated forms from solid components, and mixing organic and cast objects, her practice renders a discipline that is traditionally thought of as static and permanent into something fluid and
elastic. Her works for Metamorphosis are all potentially wearable but exist as independent objects with a powerful presence in their own right. A collection of more conventional jewellery by the artist is also available for purchase at the Gallery desk.
Elson graduated from Curtin University’s former Jewellery and 3D Design course in 1991 where she went on to teach for 24 years. In 2001 she was the recipient of a Samstag Scholarship and holds an MFA from the Chelsea School of Art and Design, London. Elson has exhibited locally and internationally including the solo exhibitions Anigozanthos(eudaimoniahybrid)
at Galerie Düsseldorf in 2007, phloem poetica at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art in 2010 and Fasciation – expectations of growth, Art Collective WA in 2020. She recently returned from representing Australia in the II International Festival of Gold Embroidery and Jewelry, Zar Festival, Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Her work is held in collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, and Janet Holmes à Court. She is a member of Art Collective WA.
Sarah Elson, 2016–2019
Recycled silver
73 x 21 x 8 cm
$6,500
Dimensions Variable
Sarah Elson, 2016–2023
Repurposed silver jewelry
Dimensions Variable
$3,000
Holly Story
Born: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 1953
Lives and works: Fremantle and Walpole, Australia
Working across multiple disciplines, Holly Story’s work is concerned with human perception, lived experience, and the interdependence of the human and natural worlds. At the heart of her practice is a 30-year relationship with a research site at Deep River, on Western Australia’s south coast, a place she continually returns to as a source of creative inspiration. Her works for Metamorphosis include Wing and Forest Figure, (created from paper and fabric respectively) that each sat for over a year under a Marri tree in Deep River, becoming increasingly infused and stained with the landscape.
Though abstract works, they evoke the weight and presence of bodies, and suggest a gradual intermingling of self and environment to create a hybrid identity resonant with sensuality and the imprint of prolonged time spent on the land. Her Mother Mother series meanwhile pays tribute to the Marri tree as an entity Story has always considered a powerful matriarch of the forest. Story was born in Zimbabwe of English heritage, but grew up in various countries, including Thailand and Lebanon. She immigrated to Western Australia in 1970, and in 1987 as a mature age student enrolled at Curtin University,
obtaining a BA and Post Graduate Diploma in Visual Art in 1991, working as an artist, arts administrator and occasional arts writer since that time. Her work is represented in collections including Artbank, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the City of Perth, Janet Holmes à Court, the Museum of Arts Crafts, Itami Japan, Parliament House Canberra, the University of Western Australia and the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Beverly Thomson
Born: Carnarvon, Australia, 1968 Lives and works: Bunbury, Australia
Yamatji artist Beverly Thomson’s hand-built ceramics bear the imprint of the artist’s touch in their sculpted forms and intricate woven detailing, heightening the intimacy inherent to her practice. They reflect her love of the southwestern Australian landscape, variously inspired by the forms of native flora, or literally incorporating it into her weaving materials, which are dyed with local plants. Thomson’s practice is an ongoing process of exploration and connection to place, which she is delighted to share with her audience, stating, “as a Yamatji woman, working with nature helps me reconnect.
I invite you to share in the joy and wonderment I find with creating.”
Thomson is a multidisciplinary earlycareer artist who practices in a variety of disciplines, specialising in pottery, weaving and ‘dirty pot’ eco dyeing. She is known for combining different mediums in innovative ways, for example transferring her photography onto canvas for further hand-embellishment, or as seen in the series of vessels exhibited here, which combine her ceramic and weaving practice. Born in Carnarvon, Thomson is now based in Bunbury where she is engaged in Bunbury Regional Art Gallery’s Noongar
Arts Program as a participating artist and frequent workshop facilitator. She has shown her work in exhibitions including Noongar Country at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Revealed at Fremantle Arts Centre and Tree Street Art Safari in Bunbury, and regularly participates in makers’ markets.
10 x 9 x 8.5 cm
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Trachyte and glaze
11 x 10 x 10 cm
Trachyte
11 x 9.2 x 9 cm
$220
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Trachyte and glaze
12.5 x 10 x 10 cm
$250
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Trachyte and glaze
13 x 10.5 x 11 cm
$250
Untitled(gumnutvessel)#6
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Trachyte and glaze
16.3 x 10.5 x 11 cm
$300
Untitled(wovenvessel)#1
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Stoneware, glaze, bush-dyed raffia
7.5 x 11.5 x 6.5 cm
$300
Untitled(wovenvessel)#2
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Stoneware, glaze, bush-dyed raffia
15.5 x 10 x 10.5 cm
$350
Untitled(wovenvessel)#3
Beverly Thomson, 2024
Stoneware, glaze, bush-dyed raffia
16.5 x 10 x 10.5 cm
$350
Beverly Thomson, 2024
$120
Untitled
Beverly Thomson, 2024
$120
About FORM Building a State of Creativity
FORM is an independent, not-for-profit arts and cultural organisation based in Claremont and operating across Western Australia. Our mission is to be a leader in the development of a vibrant creative economy for the benefit and wellbeing of all Western Australian communities.
FORM’s vision is to be a major contributor in ensuring Western Australia is a vibrant, thriving, and connected participant in a global creative economy, and that our work is world-renowned for its ability to catalyse unique cultural expression, arising from our State’s healthy and prosperous communities. Our vision is realised through our values: creativity, excellence, integrity, community empowerment and collaboration.
Our unique programs include FORM Gallery & Café, Spinifex Hill Studio, FORM Creative Learning - Creative Schools and Scribblers, major Cultural Tourism projects such as Thomas Dambo’s Giants of Mandurah and the PUBLIC Silo Trail, plus Arts and Cultural Consultancy.
FORM Building a State of Creativity 39 Gugeri Street Claremont WA 6010
www.form.net.au
mail@form.net.au 08 9385 2200
Metamorphosis was published by FORM Building a State of Creativity in May 2024, to accompany the exhibition of the same name at FORM Gallery.
Curated by Andrew Nicholls with the participating artists
© FORM 2024. All rights reserved.
Copyright for imagery and written content in this publication is held by FORM Building a State of Creativity or the individual contributors, where applicable. Every effort has been made to adhere to best practice ICIP protocols.
FORM Gallery
Opening Hours Weekdays 9:00am - 3:00pm
Saturday 8:00am - 12:00pm
Closed public holidays.
facebook.com/formwa facebook.com/formgalleryandcafe formwa formgalleryandcafe
