Portal, 2022
A digitisation of the 2021 sculpture
Artists: Alisa Blakeney, Claire Bushby and Donna Franklin
Unity/Unreal Developer: Ajith Somangili
3D Technical Artist: Zachary McIntyre
Cultural Collaborator: Jayden Boundry
Sound Artist: Sze Tsang
XRWA Hackathon Showcase
PICA
Perth Cultural Centre
Boorloo
15 – 18 September, 2022
Portal presents a spatial exploration of Moodjar (Nuytsia floribunda), a hemi-parasitic, 40-million year old tree, endemic to Western Australia, recently considered an indicator species. Highly sacred in Noongar culture, it is as a place where ancestors rest before they travel on. As colonial agricultural practices cleared the land, this tree remained steadfast and untouched: seeking out nutrients from other plants, cutting telephone lines with its sickle-like nodules. The knotted relations of this tree with soil, other living matter and social modes of existence and practice troubles the boundaries of what constitutes one entity, body or world.