Join us for a special talk at the George Paton Gallery by experimental designer and artist Jessie French!
Jessie explores speculative futures through algae-based bioplastic and water-based ecologies. The polymers French uses in her work come from new algae, a renewable resource that has the potential to rehabilitate oceans and the atmosphere through its sustainable production and harvest, rather than ancient algae - a finite, mined resource that petroleum is made from.
Housed within an ethos of consumption, sustainability and regeneration, her practice invites others to engage with the possibilities of a post-petrochemical world. Through experimenting with other materials, she explores the potential of closed-loop systems of (re)use and conscious consumption and interaction with objects. Through her work - both material research and production - French engages with and confronts our contemporary environmental crisis. She proposes everyday solutions within the frame of human production and consumption.
Jessie has exhibited at art fairs and design weeks and with institutions including the 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, Craft Victoria, Science Gallery Melbourne, Ars Electronica, Melbourne Design Week and the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. In 2020, French founded OTHER MATTER, an experimental design studio working with algae-based bioplastics which engages others in the possibilities of new materials though objects, experiences and futures.
Image Credit: Response-ability is not a calculation to be performed - GH16, 23rd Biennale of Sydney - rīvus, The Cutaway, Barangaroo, 12 March - 13 June 2022. Photography by Jessica Maurer.