Hortus Conclusus

 

Hortus Conclusus | Crucible Exhibition

6 February - 9 May 2020

Sharon Peoples

A small exhibition of hand stitched embroideries contained in jewellery boxes and glasses cases. This exhibition examines the concept of Hortus Conclusus, the enclosed garden.

By observing the domestic gardenscapes on her walks, Peoples has been exploring how people build walls around their gardens, as well as perhaps themselves, possibly as a defence and leaving their inner garden to grown. This space can grow wild, untamed, overblown, yet as ‘gardeners’ we are continually pursuing balance, striving towards a utopia, a controlled ideal/place of the future. This tension sees us wage war against nature, excluding invading weeds and pests, denying the chance of life for one group and extending hospitality for others. Bringing nature under control requires, on the one hand, gardeners using biocides to pursue their ideals of paradise; on the other hand, cultivating, fertilizing and training chosen vegetation place row by row, to hopefully provide a rich and fecund harvest or visual delight. The works in this exhibition are very much about locatedness and place – Canberra suburban gardens.

Back to Past exhibitions (2020)