Description:

Biophilia is the innate interconnectedness bestowed within humans and nature. It is the idea that in the current industrialised world, we need to be in and around nature to benefit our well-being. Driven by this, I have delved into my personal connection with the oceanic waves in Riversdale, both physically and mentally. Riversdale has been my home for every summer of my life. Being a surf lifeguard there, and the many long hours I have spent at the beach have allowed me to fully unpack and build a special connection with the waves. I have always used them to escape the world, relax, connect and embrace the calmness of nature. Aesthetically I find the flow, currents, forms and movements all happening and overlapping at different times quite intriguing. The waves are like a visual symphony; chaotic in singular form yet pleasing to the eye when observed as a whole.​ Throughout my weaves, I wanted to capture all these elements. I started by documenting them with over 400 photos, videos, audio recordings and drawings.

Motivated by innovation I wanted to push the boundaries of what can be achieved using an 8 shaft table loom. By using complex lifting plans it creates layers within the weaves. I chose to use nylon as this material best represents the waves. However, nylon is smooth and rigid making it very hard to weave. I counteracted this by delicately hand-sanding the fibre to make it rough and more flexible. My intentions with sanding the nylon were to also play around with transparency to represent the whitewash in the waves. As the ocean is clear, the elements around it like the sky give it colour. This is portrayed in my weaves by using minimal colour and having elements such as light and backdrops giving them colour and life. I turned the audio recordings into visual forms called waveforms and turned that into a “wave stick”. This meant Instead of pulling flat, I pulled in the wavey shape of my audio recordings. Four of my weaves were done on a digital TC2 loom. This allowed me to capture more detail that can be seen within my photographs. I wove dark grey monofilament (nylon) contrasting with a cotton warp, creating a glistening effect which bounces off light highlighting different parts of the weave when viewed from different angles. I also created a video as one of my pieces, filming the shadow of a weave morphing and moving to represent the unseen currents within the waves.

My purpose for this project was to translate the Riversdale waves into woven textiles through biophilic design to evoke the same feelings felt when amongst the waves. Therefore, they are meant to benefit me and my well-being when I’m not at Riversdale as well as evoke similar feelings in all viewers. This means they have less of a direct application but it’s more about the audience's beneficial interaction with my work which is the focal of the project.