Butterfly hands
1st Place: Photography - digital, and new media art
Artwork Statement
I have disrupted audio, visuals, and symbolism to illustrate my experience of time as haphazard, and impermanent. The orchid swallowtail butterfly has a life span of 2-3 months, and like other butterflies, traditionally symbolises transformation and renewal. However, when I view these large and erratic butterflies in my garden I reflect on my feelings of time, and how my memory is made up of a mixed-match collection of experiences. The interaction of the butterfly and my hands, alongside my disruptive editing, reminds myself that time is short and memory is non-linear.
Curator's Comment
A captivating and successful exploration of dismantling linear ideas of time, and disrupting the recognisable and familiar. This is seen in the continuous morphing and blurring of distinctive features and creating new forms from the last. The hands as the cocoon is fascinating, and the doubling or mirror strategy is also compelling. The work leans in to concepts of life cycles, loss, death and transformation which is a strong demonstration of the theme. Using video as the medium to explore these ideas enables a non-static outcome.
About the artist
Kristen Flynn utilises new technologies and printmaking to create works that investigate and communicate her identity. Living on a rural property, and being a mother, she is particularly drawn to investigating facets of motherhood, life cycles, decay, the abject, and beauty, through found objects and appropriated artworks.