wavelengths at 685, 533 and 473 nanometers

 

Wavelengths at 685, 533 and 473 nanometers is an art work that consists of a local native plant situated on a red fluorescent shelf from which roots extend underneath. LEDs pulse out live readings of light at the red and blue ends of the visible spectrum - the wavelengths used by plants in photo-synthesis. On the wall above, a hybrid Polynesian form in fluorescent Perspex contains the QR code connecting the art work to this project web page.

Several ethical positions are required by the work, both small scale and large scale. The local exhibition team must first locate and select a plant native to the area. Care must be taken of the plant. This means potting the plant in the container to be used three weeks prior to install, to ensure the health of the plant.Some of the art work components such as the breadboard circuit, are recycled. Other components are lowly valued – feathers for example, and the root structure is a ubiquitous native tree from Aotearoa New Zealand, the mahoe, once used to create fire.

The image at left from the University of Illinois at Chicago shows photosynthesis at the electron level.

In photosynthesis plants use wavelengths of light at the blue and red ends of the spectrum, indicated by the height of the green lines in the diagram. Green wavelengths of light are not used, and the light is reflected, giving plants their customary green colour. Image source: University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

This detail shows the circuit board - a breadboard which allows for multiple uses. Andrew Hornblow created the custom electronics. We like using re-cycled and re-purposed materials.

The electronics involve reading the levels of red and blue light in the vicinity of the plant, which are then blinked out by LED's. The system is powered by three AA batteries and often last a month, due to careful power management.

The plant is a local native fern. It requires care during the exhibition, as it prefers moist soil, but not wet or dry. It is unusual to connect to the environment of exhibiting spaces in this way.

The fluoro pink perspex has really interesting optical properties, and has led to an exploration of light.

 

Here the blue LED is flashing out values of blue light.

The feather is from a native kereru or wood pigeon. Once you know which trees they like to go to, underneath there will be feathers due to flapping hard when landing or taking off. So I have collected a large number of kereru feathers..

 

A detail with a better photograph of the kereru feather. The relevance of feathers is that they are engineered for surface flow, so that air flows above and below the feather and wings. Flow is an ongoing and important facet of my work.

Context

 

Plants have been depicted in art for several millenia.

There are Assyrian temple decorations with plants dating back to 3000 BCE (before common era). The image at left is from Egypt, 1350BCE. I studied this work many years ago in the British Museum, and made a number of drawings of it, then worked off some of the visual ideas to create wallpaper designs. The bird just above Nebamun (the main figure) is achieved with an amazingly sparse technique, just dots and lines with a little shading. Image source British Museum

The bird in the powlonia 1962 colour etching by George Braque.

I have had this as an offset lithograph in my studio for many years. It resonates with the aspects of plants and birds in art. For those that know Braque's work, the use of a shelf here recalls Braque's use of furniture in his painting.

 

Akousmaflore by Scenocosme, 2011.

This work by Scenocosme is a more recent iteration of the use of plants in art. Their work is interactive, where the audience can 'play' the plants, as moving your hand close to the plants creates sound. I was lucky to exhibit in the same location as them twice now - in Istanbul and Albuquerque, at ISEA shows.

 

Four petal 'frangipani'.

The four petal frangipani (or plumeria) is extremely rare in nature, ninetynine percent are five petalled. The shape is the inspiration for the four petal fluoro pink shape that has the QR code on it. This form frequently occurs in Polynesian art, particularly in earlier prints by John Pule and Fata Feu'u. The association with frangipani is relatively recent - the form can be traced further back to the Lapita peoples who spread through Polynesia.

 

Imagery at least 3000 years old

These fragments of Lapita pottery date from 1000BC or BCE according to The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The four petalled form can be seen within the lower left circular form.

On Samoa and Tonga, if only the upper two parts of the form are used, it is understood to reference a bird in flight. All four parts of the form is a reference to two birds (Cowling, W.E. (2009) The Lapita Motif That 'Got Away' in Sites: New Series Vol. 6 No. 2 p60).

I visited Fiji in 2014 and the Fijian Department of Conservation staff of a reserve allowed me to take with me, three Lapita pottery shards I found there.