Australian War Memorial Artwork Donation Proposal - Rebecca Ross
Diamonds and Echelons 2024
4K colour digital video collage: Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, single channel with sound
11min 11sec
Edition 1/3
Value $5500.00 AUD
Artist Statement
Navigating personal and geopolitical connections between earth and sky, Diamonds and Echelons is a mediation on power, perspective and projection. It pinpoints Australia’s coastlines as subject, responding to the broader challenges of Australia’s coastal regions and the Asia-Pacific arena. The title references the airborne patterns of birds and planes, and ideas of military rank and hierarchies.
The work employs collage in its formation to survey the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, said to be the most sophisticated jet of our age. Encompassing aerial perspectives of the Coral Sea and South Pacific Ocean, the jets, mirrored across four fields, form an axis and a reference to the cardinal directions. Across eleven minutes the F-35’s move meditatively from earth to sky in a choreographed sequence with stealthy qualities on show.
Extending on the notion of ‘formations’, the work pays homage to the photo mosaics of Ruby Spowart, my father’s work as a professional skywriter and aerobatic pilot, and a family lineage of Airforce servicemen. It also expands my curiosity with the sky and its associations with notions of transcendence.
Composition
This artwork is rendered as a single channel video across a 2 X 2 video wall (optimal display 55inch, full HD).
Artwork will be supplied on USB Flash Drive with artist authentication attached. Artist will cover delivery of artwork to AWM.
Option to display on a single large screen or projection at scale. Alternative display options to be discussed with artist prior to presentation.
‘True North Bench’ custom seating as shown in images can be discussed as part of this proposal. The bench measures 3 X 3metres and is orientated to true north in proximity to the video wall. Freight by AWM would be required.
Acknowledgments
From the body of work titled Formations and Earth-Sky Connections
Sound produced in collaboration with David M. Thomas
Research supported by The Lock-Up Newcastle Artist in Residence program
Commissioned by HOTA Gallery for Here and Now: Gold Coast Triennial 2024. Curated by Bradley Vincent. Exhibition design by Dirk Yates, Speculative Architecture
Exhibition documentary Here and Now: Gold Coast Triennial | Documentary | HOTA, Home of the Arts (timecode 6:05 - 7:36 mins)
Image credits
Rebecca Ross, Louis Lim, Aaron Chapman and Remco Photography
Technical notes
The above video is stitched together to simulate the formation of the 2 X 2 video wall. The images are documentation of the work presented at HOTA Gallery.