Mutabilities - propositions to an unknown universe
October 2024
Images courtesy of the artists. Photography by John Collie, used with permission.
Mutabilities - propositions to an unknown universe is an exhibition that decisively hovers. It is alien, it is human, it is molten rock, but it is also not. Ōtautahi-based artist collaborators Edwards + Johann propose entities that are so clearly resilient to the world’s chaotic forces, that the curious visitor feels existentially empowered to harness the same tenacity in their own acts of survival.
When encountering nature, the human eye cannot see the radical rate of growth that occurs all around - yet somehow, in this calculated space, the hum of transformation is unmistakably reverberated by installation, drawing, photography, and paint skins.
Perhaps this uncanniness is suggested by the ambiguous sculptures titled ‘Slightly More Active Than Rocks…’ taking centre stage, or possibly the ‘Leafless Trees, Drunken Branches & Fairy Dust’ arrangements pulsating their own narratives in vibrant capsules like surrealist paintings.
The show encapsulates the pair’s organic responses to ever-changing environments - namely their 2024 residency at Sutton House which sits in the Ōtautahi Red Zone, against the backdrop of the volcanic Whakaari White Island explored in 2018.
When two minds collide with such harmony, one is reminded of the poetic possibilities of co-existence. Unfamiliar encounters together are to be celebrated, as we await our next inevitable performance. How will you morph your shape, with or without an extra limb, to perform the simple act of survival?
On the quiet ground floor of the Christchurch Art Gallery, the mutability of things magnetises, like a fig tree that constantly watches from the studio window.
Edwards + Johann: Mutabilities - propositions to an unknown universe
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
14 September 2024 – 9 February 2025