Spin into Being

Spin into Being delves into the archive in a reinterpretation of themes and footage that have foregrounded the artist's work for decades. While the ocean is perpetually in a rhythmic cycle, it is also in a constant state of flux. From moment to moment, it is never the same, continually evolving and changing in both its physical state and appearance. Like bodies of water, the physical body is also in a state of perpetual permutation, both in spirit and anatomy.

In this immersive photographic and video installation, the body is juxtaposed with and in nature. In capturing water in the ocean in the video work, Wilson symbiotically synchronizes her movements with the cadence of tidal motion. This synchronicity and the resulting shroud of water around her fuse body and nature. This elemental and metaphysical hybridity distills time, water, light and motion into a primal pulse.

These elements, while ubiquitous, are fundamental to all life and material existence. Yet, in each manifestation, they are different, never appearing or combining in quite the same fashion. Water and air—so very commonplace, they hardly attract attention—yet they vouchsafe our very existence.

Light and Movement

In the installation, Spin into Being wraps viewers in light, with reflected tessellations enveloping them on ceiling, walls and the floor. The encompassing, ebbing pulse of kaleidoscopic water is furthered by the rhythmic gesture of collecting and dispersing water in the video piece. This translates to the physical motion of spinning that produces the photographic images. The centrifugal thus becomes dually generative.

The vast expanse of the natural world in which the artist moves body and camera becomes condensed into lines that run throughout the images. These linear wisps of light convey a profound eloquence as the entropy of the world is purified into a single line. These lines of light echo the horizon line of the ocean. At the boundary of water and sky, one is reflected into the other, just as the photographs mirror boundaries between the physical world and its intangible inscription through light.

Virtual Reality Experience

In the VR piece, viewers are invited to delve further into this elemental synergy. Within virtual space, the viewer is able to feel what it is like to be inside the camera and experience the elemental alchemy that is photography. In this space, the body is transcended, becoming part of the atomic interplay.

The dialogue between pieces in Spin into Being reflects on cycles of aging and existence. In the mark making with light, there is an affirmation of the vitality of our existence and cohesion in the natural world. Yet, there is also a profound humility in this realization that our existence is but one small iteration in the enduring, omnipresence of nature. The earth, ocean and sky synthesized in the horizon have existed long before us and shall continue to do so in an endless expanse long after we cease to be.

Catalogue essay by Anna Shimshak. Solo exhibition at Five Walls Gallery, Footscray (March 2-19, 2022). This body of work includes photographic prints, video projection, bespoke screen and Oculus Rift VR work.