Yuggara/Ugarapul Country (Ipswich)

Interwoven, donna davis, 2024

Video Installation: 3 channel video, TV screens, digital prints onto recycled stretch micro-fibre fabric, foam, sound. Sound design by Luke Lickfold.‍

Interwoven responds to the idea of exchanging breath with our interspecies kin; extending the concept of the experimental ‘Interweaver’ by entangling human and non-human respiration processes on a microscale.

Here the viewer is transported to a hidden realm inside both plant and human to reveal an intimate glimpse into our shared biological process of gas exchange; with a series of videos depicting stomata^[1] and alveoli^[2] movement. These creative animations are interspersed with grassland imagery simultaneously placing the viewer within macro and micro worlds.

A series of floor cushions, reminiscent of the Interweaver’s ‘Grass Cards’ sit beneath the videos inviting the viewer to sit, relax and contemplate our interspecies relationship with grass. A soundtrack, created in response to the video sequence, plays softly in the background to invite deep meditative reflection.

The work encourages the viewer to consider their own role within the carbon cycle reflecting on the idea of gas exchange between living organisms; we all share an intimate connection with our multispecies kin - our shared breath is inextricably interwoven in our very being. ‍

The grass animations were created with reference to scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of stomata from the leaf surface of native grass species grown in my own grass garden. I harvested, pressed, vouchered^[3] and imaged the native grasses involved during my residency with the Queensland Herbarium and Biodiversity Science (QHBS). Special thanks to Dr Melinda Laidlaw and Dr Melody Fabillo, QHBS, Department of Environment, Science and Innovation for hosting me during my residency.

^[1] Stomata: Microscopic openings or pores in the epidermis of leaves and young stems. Stomata are generally more numerous on the underside of leaves. They provide for the exchange of gases between the outside air and the branched system of interconnecting air canals within the leaf.  Source: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "bract". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Nov. 2016. https://www.britannica.com/science/bract-plant-structure. Accessed 28 January 2024.

^[2] Alveolus: tiny air sac in the lung…the site of gas exchange of respiratory gases (Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen). Source: Oxford Reference, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095406481. Retrieved 28 Jan. 2024.

^[3] Voucher Specimens are pressed and mounted; collected to support a research project or a particular activity, for example they may represent new weed incursions, seed collections, ecological research, DNA sequences or biochemical analysis.  Source: https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/plants/herbarium/specimens

The Interweaver, Donna Davis, 2022
During the first stage of Carbon_Dating (2022-3) each participant-carer was given a unique ‘Interweaver’ device/sculpture, designed by artist donna davis, which connected them to the project's shared 'Grassland Community of Care'. The ‘Interweaver’ is a wi-fi enabled sculpture/device that each carer kept in their home or workplace. About the size of a small electric appliance, this aesthetic object had a range of functions: including sculptural object, audio-visual display, a holder for grass reflection and provocation cards, and a seed store. The Interweaver was designed to become a part of the participants' daily lives and attended to once per day. Its miniature kaleidoscopic video screen displayed daily 24-hour time-lapse images of the grasses from this site at Samford. The accompanying soundscape, heard on headphones, was created using a custom audio composition program designed by project artist Luke Lickfold, with each unique composition controlled by real time weather data streamed from this Samford site. Together the projects' participants spent three months with their grasses, plus the Inteweaver and some prompt cards. This was designed to focus them around caring for and 'being with' their grasses – experiences which in turn informed their creative responses for the 2024-5 touring exhibition.

Sculpture
Materials:
- Timber, glass, grass seed, mobile phone, streamed video/audio from Samford Carbon_Dating site, mirrors, acrylic, headphones, magnifying glass
Measurements:
400mm x 400 x 300mm 

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Carbon_Dating Grass Mound, Donna Davis, 2022
Inspired by experiments in grass planting and growth, donna davis designed a flat packable garden bed structure - which was then cut using a CNC process in cardboard. When assembled and filled with earth, it would ultimately grow into the iconic mounds that characterised each of the Carbon_Dating sites. This kit is available to other sites interested in growing their own grass mound.

Sculpture
Materials:
- CNC cut cardboard, eco-weed mat, recycled edging (optional) soil, mulch native seedlings and seeds
Measurements:
1.5m x 1.5m x 0.3mm