Shirley Ploog - 'Diaphanous [Redux]'

Wednesday 7 March - Sunday 8 April 2018

“Mother Nature has provided us with a gift, an exquisite wonderland and yet she is slowly fading. Diaphanous is an emotional response to the beauty of nature as it fades as well as capturing it’s vulnerability, fragility, strength and resilience.

I have selected dying roses from my garden and through my selected substrate of drafting film translucent layers, combined with drawing and painting, I wish to convey a sensitive world of fragile details. The beauty in decay through the fading rose is a great metaphor to evoke thoughts around life, death, destruction and rebirth, all issues faced by us and our environment.

The attraction of the perfect structures of a rose when just formed is not what appeals to me, it is when nature ages, when the crinkles form, the colours fade, blemishes appear, wrinkles develop and beautiful shapes evolve. This is what gives natures forms its beauty, it tells a life story.

My wish as an artist is that through my creative expression my work will evoke a response, a sense of curiosity to stop and take a closer look and ultimately a sense of responsibility to respond with thought and ideally action to become actively involved in nurturing and protecting our environment.”

Shirley Ploog, October 2017