The Unfurling

Suzanne Davey, The Unfurling, textile, resin, 350cm x 450cm x 450cm

Exhibited in 3D Poolside, Warringah Aquatic Centre, curated by Bronwen Dugan. Drifting dreamily in trees by the poolside The Unfurling explores ideas about the importance of sanctuary for us all, having the opportunity to escape from our everyday struggles. We are all subject to forces beyond our control but a taking a breath of air, connecting with precious natural environments can nourish and transform us so we are ready to face the world once again with renewed hope and resilience.

Suzanne Davey, The Unfurling, textile, resin, 350cm x 450cm x 450cm
Suzanne Davey, The Unfurling, textile, resin, 350cm x 450cm x 450cm
Suzanne Davey, The Unfurling, textile, resin, 350cm x 450cm x 450cm

Garden of Cruel Delights

site responsive installation Coal Loader Waverton
Suzanne Davey, Garden of Cruel Delights, plants, wood, metal, bricks, stone, jute, copper, 250cm x 250cm x 800cm

A site responsive installation exhibited at the historic Coal Loader, Waverton, as part of the North Sydney Art Prize, curated by Alison Clark. The work was located on the Coal Loader Platform, surrounded by community garden beds. It extends and builds upon The Garden of Cruel Delights photographic series exploring our inter-relationships with plants.

site responsive art installation Coal Loader Waverton
Suzanne Davey, Garden of Cruel Delights, plants, wood, metal, bricks, stone, jute, copper, 250cm x 250cm x 800cm

Statement:

The Coal Loader is an exchange zone between us, plants and environmental forces, where flora experience constant transformation through our destructive and constructive actions. Tactile and material interventions performed on living plants are utilised to examine concepts such as empathy, control, adaptation to showcase the power of plants to lead us to better futures.

site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation Coal Loader Waverton
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail

Gathering Shadows

Suzanne Davey, Gathering Shadows, ceramic, brick, bones, wood, charcoal, shells, 70cm x 300cm x300cm

Gathering Shadows is a site responsive installation that responds to the changing cultural history of the Coal Loader, Waverton, from its indigenous heritage, land use on the site, its role in facilitating the coal mining industry through to its current role as a centre for sustainability on the harbour foreshore.    The work considers our inter-dependence with site histories (indigenous, animal, geological) and the potential future consequences of our collective actions and inaction towards environmental ecologies.    Notions of temporal flows, site ruptures and dis-ruptures, surface wounds and healing are investigated.    The work explores clay as a media shaped by human touch and the ceramic traditions of containment. Unable to hold back their contents shells, small animal bones, charcoal and bricks flow and spill in the shadows of the ceramic forms.   

Suzanne Davey, Gathering Shadows, detail, ceramic, brick, bones, wood, charcoal, shells, 70cm x 300cm x300cm
Suzanne Davey, Gathering Shadows, detail, stoneware ceramic, 45 x 40 x 40 cm

The Gravity of Moments

Suzanne Davey, The Gravity of Moments, fabric, steel, resin, 350cm x 350cm x 350cm

The Gravity of Moments is a large suspended installation that flutters in the breeze. The work is featured in Sculpture in the Glen, along with 50 local, national and international artists work and includes small indoor and large outdoor sculptures in a variety of media. The exhibition is curated by Penny Philpott and celebrates Glen Street Theatre’s 30th anniversary. It opens 5 September and continues untill 25 October 2015. The ethereal sculpture responds to its theatrical site and bushland gardens.

The Unfurling

Suzanne Davey The Unfurling 10m x 3m x 2m, recycled clothing, resin, steel

The Unfurling is a large scale site responsive installation of suspended body ‘voids’ created from recyled clothing and resin, harnessing wind and light. The work was exhibited as part of the North Sydney Art Prize 2015 at the Coal Loader Waverton.  The site is located on the shores of Sydney harbour and examines the coast as a place of sanctuary.


The Unfurling is a response to the debate surrounding vulnerable populations arriving on Australian shores and beyond, and the human costs. Individual rights and national interests are given precedence over collective human rights. Tragedy grips people dreaming of sanctuary but who are subjects to forces beyond their control through war, politics and discrimination.
Clothing is utilised as a social and cultural signifier of identity, memory and psychological ties with others. The clothes become traces of the bodies that once occupied them, ‘voids’, and on mass symbolise the collective struggles of vulnerable people. 

Wind choreographs movement in the collective and subjects them to elemental forces beyond their control. The sculptures are translucent and reflect natural light as they move.

The work was inpired by the poems of Mena Johnson, a poet that I collaborated with for the On Islands project at Eramboo Artist Environment.

The Unfurling installation detail On Islands project

The Unfurling installation view On Islands project

The Unfurling installation video showing movement, On Islands project

The Unfurling installation details On Islands project

The Unfurling bushand installation view On Islands project

Groundswell Public Art Installation

Suzanne Davey, Groundswell, recycled clothing, resin, paint, steel, 350cm x 800cm x 400cm

Groundswellis an energetic public art installation created for the ENLIVEN festival, Mona Vale. The work was commissioned by Pittwater Council and was made in partnership with the charity Lifeline.

Made from donated recycled clothing Groundswellis a suspended installation made from pants of all shapes and sizes. Lots of legs appear to be surging forward, walking and running, and hopefully creating a ripple in the local community.
The work draws inspiration from the site. Davey states, “ As soon as I saw the Lifeline Centre in Bungan Laneway and its recycled clothing I knew exactly what I wanted to do. To me Lifeline is all about reaching out to life and connecting with others for support. Clothing is all about people and living.”

Special thanks to Lifeline for their generous donation of clothing.

Groundswell installation , shadow detail
Family enjoying the Groundswell installation at the ENLIVEN festival
Rear view detail, Groundswell installation
Detail, Groundswell

Window reflection, Groundswell

Sweet Surrender


Suzanne Davey, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm



A protective response to the fragility of the delicate ecosystem of Stony Range; captured, completely surrounded and held to ransom by the encroaching urban environment.

 A site specific work installed in Stony Range Regional Botanical Garden 2014.



Overhead installation view, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm

Installation detail, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm

Ceramic detail, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal

Installation view, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm