Found plastic and cotton thread
45 x 50 cm (irregular)

Kirsten Farrell is a conceptual artist currently focussed on the materiality and ontology of plastic. In every whisper and echo of eternity is representative of their of the last four year years, in which they primarily use found plastic and cotton thread to construct two(-ish) dimensional works that propose a radical re-evaluation of human relations to plastic. This work does not easily fit into a category of art medium but spans textile, collage, painting and drawing.

In every whisper and echo of eternity cotton threads have been repetitively, obsessively drawn through layers of plastic. It is a very slow manner of making in which the lines of the thread iterate and build layers. Through the iterative construction the composition emerges gradually, each line informing the next in relation to the ground, a super slow drawing process. This process both preserves the transparencies of the plastic and through the iterative lines changes its state to a shimmering crinkly surface that layers the colours of the plastic with the colours of the threads. It contains fundamental elements of drawing: linearity, time and material yet actively challenges its boundaries.

The slowness of the work connects to the deep time contained in plastic, drawn from ancient petrochemicals. The works meditate on the this deep time and propose a more thoughtful knowing of the material.

Image: Brenton McGeachie