Rate of Soil Formation: two tonnes per hectare per year. Rate of Soil Loss: two hundred tonnes per hectare per dust storm event
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| Rate of Soil Formation: two tonnes per hectare per year. Rate of Soil Loss: two hundred tonnes per hectare per dust storm event | 1991 | Installation with documentation of site specific work | spatial project |
| Artwork, image and photography © Perdita Phillips | fieldwork | ||
| Rabbits 25 cm long. Digital print 30 x 41 cm | edition 6/7 available | $440 | |
| eclogue: documentation of site-specific work. Carpet underlay, cardboard, wood and fire | |||
| Project: Rate of Soil Formation: two tonnes per hectare per year. Rate of Soil Loss: two hundred tonnes per hectare per dust storm event | 1991–1992 | Quarry, Lake Baladjie, 80 Mile Beach and Toodyay | |
| Exhibition: Degree Show | 1991 | Curtin University of Technology, Perth | |
| {remove tags and put into relationships. Relationships are year, title of work, project title date not in brackets, tags, exhibition (date), additional themes and art media, series of artworks} | |||
This work deals with a contradictory aspect of environmental management in Australia: whilst over 80% of Australians live in urban areas, Land Degradation, which is the most extensive, expensive and difficult environmental issue to fix, occur in rural and remote areas. Environmental issues in the hinterland are largely invisible to the urban majority. How do you communicate these issues to predominantly urban audiences?
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The title of the work is self-explanatory, referring to the average rates of soil creation and soil loss In Australia, and thus pointing to the problems of soil erosion and land degradation. The Royal Doulton bunnies from bunnikin bowls were a signifier of the more complex issues of land ownership and traditional agricultural practices imported by Australia’s colonizing cultures, and consumer demand created in urban markets world-wide.
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It is easy to make negative and depressing (and humourless) works about environmental issues. The intention here was to create positive solutions for contemplation and action in the work.