Helen Lempriere Sculpture Award 2004
Slumbering Tyres involves the grouping of a dozen circular works: approximately ten on the ground and a couple hanging from the side of a building. These permanent rubber forms are woven out of the inner tubes of car tyres and are approximately 70cm in diameter each. This sculptural work has evolved out of skills gained at a weaving workshop organised by the CSA and Collingwood Neighbourhood House mid 2003 where Bea Edwards and Dot Peters introduced a group of artists to traditional Koori weaving methods.
With Slumbering Tyres I hope to allude to the revolutions of tyres marking the journey and arrival at a destination. A certain rhythm is continued after deflation with the weaving of this rubbery material. The tyre turns humming a mantra of progress while in a state of perpetual slumber. The tyre turns with hunger for fossil fuels and its repetitive motion is concerned with consumption. The tyre is an object made to certain specifications and quality tested to perform a number of rotations. This fixation with the functional is transformed and working life is given another dimension. There is a sense that this transformation is experienced by a community who by bearing witness and are imbued with the power of collective knowledge.
With Slumbering Tyres there is exhalation. The inflatable sculptural work that is my usual practice is stripped of the artist’s breath. The creative process is adaptive and the forms are mutable. With this work there is conceptual quiet that is restorative.
Acknowledgments
I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land around the Werribee River being the Woiworung-speaking people of the Kulin Nation and the Wathaurung.
I would like to thank Hidden River Vineyard for sponsorship in the creation of this work and Tammy Green for technical assistance.
Jodie Goldring 