Marianne Penberthy Installations

Marianne Penberthy
recent installations

strange conversations with a tree 2002

detail: silk organza seedpods

'A place holds the power of the spirit that created it. To stand in any place is to be known by that spirit.' Bianca McNeair, a Yamaji woman, curator of the Open Road exhibition.

Strange Conversations with a Tree was created as part of Open Road where a cross-cultural group of Mid-Western Australian artists was asked to examine and interpret their physical and spiritual relationship to place.

detail: sewn banksia leaves

The silk organza seed-pods (detail, above) are small memories of seasons that have come and gone and seeds that have been released in order for the species to survive.

The process of stitching together the leaves (detail. left) caused space and time to seem to expand. The words written on the leaves reflect my process of being in this particular place.

Preparing to interpret this concept, I spent many days camped in a stand of banksia trees near the Murchison River in Western Australia.

This place had been important to me, and held many memories of time spent on the coastal sand plain and the strong connection I felt to the energy of the region.

The stitching process insisted that I look at this amazing tree for what it was, acknowledging the intelligence that produced the banksia seedpods and its zig-zag leaves.

Other recent installations include several works as part of Homeground (2000), a collaborative exhibition with sister Kerry Johns, shown also at Fremantle Arts Centre (2002).

left: manuscript series, Homeground (2000)