Sue Saxon and Jane Becker: All that is solid melts into air
Sue Saxon and Jane Becker
All that is solid melts into air (installation detail) 2011
LED cascade, eggshells
dimensions variable
© Sue Saxon and Jane Becker
25 February 2012 - 27 May 2012
All that is solid melts into air is a site-specific project by two Sydney artists, Sue Saxon and Jane Becker, who conceived this exhibition as a response to a prevailing anxiety and uncertainty in the natural and socio-political spheres an increasing awareness of our vulnerability to uncontrollable destabilising forces. The artists chosen medium of eggshells is apposite for evoking this sense of fragility and defencelessness in the midst of the overwhelming dynamisms that are reshaping our world. Cracked, fragmented, hollowed out or illuminated from within, the symbolic and formal properties of the eggshells are applied to intriguing effect in a series of small sculptures, a mosaic on paper, cursive script and a large scale installation. These delicate and ephemeral works compel us to reconsider our relationship to nature and contemplate how our ongoing exploitation and degradation of the environment also diminishes humanity, further undermining and eroding our sense of connection to the natural world.