Harvest

By Andrew Frost

Sue Pedley is fascinated by the connections between people and places. Her recent exhibitions have traced the links between communities, such as those in Australia and Japan, and her work that ranges from installation and video to sound and printmaking explores how people communicate with one another. For her latest show Harvest, this exploration is close to home: in 2011 Pedley joined a community garden close to her studio in Marrickville. Intrigued by old signage at the garden, as well as numerous emails sent back and forth between the garden’s participants, Pedley created a series of relief woodcuts, monotypes and paper-sculpted bags that combine processes of carving, drawing, printing and folding.

Laden with text and the patterns and colours of wood and earth, Pedley’s show captures the ebb and flow of communication generated by the garden, from the rustic signage stashed away in sheds, to the words that move back and forth between users via the web. The larger works are reminiscent of protest signage, but the revelation here is how the ecology of communication is as vital to the survival of the place as the hands-in-the-dirt reality of growing stuff.

October 9 to 24

James Dorahy Project Space

www.jamesdorahy.com.au